Court OK's Michigan Agency's Deletion of Bible Verses From Advocates' Profiles

Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) operates an Advocacy Program to provide representation to parties in administrative hearings. Advocates who wish to offer their services contract with UIA to submit biographical information that is then circulated to employers and employees. In Grosjean v. Bommarito, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56108 (ED MI, Aug. 2, 2007), a Michigan federal district court upheld the UIA’s decision to eliminate Biblical quotations that two advocates had previously included in their profiles. Even though the advocates had been hired by some clients on the basis of these quotations, the court held that the UIA was justified in removing the quotations as irrelevant to the individuals' qualifications. The court rejected Establishment Clause, Free Speech, Equal Protection, vagueness-overbreadth, and mootness challenges to the UIA’s action.