Why associations matter

Second, he suggests that race discrimination might be a unique and uniquely unjust form of discrimination, such that a state university for instance could rightfully refuse recognition to a voluntary student organization that practices it.

Sheahan recognizes that this raises as many questions as it answers. What characteristics make race discrimination different? Is it the troubled history of race relations in America? Are there other kinds of discrimination sex or, more controversially, sexual orientation that are covered by the same principles?

Does it undercut a principled commitment to associational pluralism to recognize areas where the state has a compelling interest in prohibiting discrimination? These are tough issues. Corporations are voluntary associations of a sort. The Supreme Court has controversially said that corporations can exercise constitutional rights. And what makes commercial organizations different from noncommercial voluntary associations?

But his book advances an important conversation about how to appreciate the social dimension of life—including associations—in the face of an individualistic intellectual culture.

Churches have an interest in seeing continued legal protection as institutions; religious organizations like the Christian Legal Society are directly affected when courts recognize or fail to recognize associational rights. Christian teaching is already clear that human nature craves fellowship and sociability.

Figuring out how to wisely live that out is a task for everyone. To unlock this article for your friends, use any of the social share buttons on our site, or simply copy the link below.

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Advance article alerts. Why associations matter Description. Full description Saved in:. In Christian Legal Society v. Martinez , however, the Supreme Court demoted freedom of association in the panoply of First Amendment rights.

This decline in protection for freedom of association has broad ramifications for the constitutional status of voluntary associations in civil society. But among these rights, freedom of association holds a tenuous position, as demonstrated in the Supreme Court ruling in Christian Legal Society v.

This demotion of freedom of association has broad ramifications for the constitutional status of voluntary associations in civil society. My book offers a cogent explanation of how this came about, why it matters, and what might be done about it.