Overview

• U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel ruled Friday that Minnesota’s 2023 restriction on colleges requiring faith statements violates the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
• The decision in Loe v. Jett also invalidated the amendment’s linked nondiscrimination condition as inseparable from the faith-statement ban.
• The case was brought by families and two Christian institutions, Crown College and the University of Northwestern–St. Paul, with representation by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
• Judge Brasel’s opinion noted the colleges have received nearly $40 million through PSEO since 2017–18, that Northwestern admits about 70% of dual-enrollment applicants, and that roughly 60,000 students have used the program.
• The Minnesota Department of Education and LGBTQ+ advocates had backed the 2023 change; the department did not respond to a request for comment in one report.