Justice Department Files Amicus Brief In Support of Mormon Student

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed an amicus brief in support of a Mormon college student, David Haws, who is suing West Virginia's PROMISE Scholarship Board for religious discrimination. (Yesterday's Washington Post.) Represented by the ACLU, Haws is challenging the Scholarship Board's policy that led to the loss of his scholarship when he left school temporarily to serve a two-year church mission. The Scholarship Board argues that since Haws' church mission was not a required tenet of his faith, but was only encouraged, he was not compelled to choose between his faith and receipt of the scholarship.