Washington AG Defeats Christian School’s Suit Over Hiring Probe

Seattle Pacific University lacks standing to sue the Washington state attorney general over an inquiry into the school’s policy of hiring predominantly employees who share or honor its Christian mission, a federal judge ruled.

The decision came on remand from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which in June 2024 had partially revived the 2022 lawsuit against then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) under the First Amendment. The university’s allegations it feared the AG’s office would enforce the sexual-orientation bias prohibitions of Washington’s Law Against Discrimination against the school were sufficient to establish standing on the suit’s prospective ...