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In Truth v. Kent School District, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Washington's Kentridge High School did not violate the First Amendment rights of Truth, a Christian student group, by repeatedly denying the group's applications for official recognition. The school denied Truth's application because the group asked all voting members and officers to sign a "statement of faith" that the school contends violates nondiscrimination policies. By finding that the school had not violated Truth's First Amendment right to freedom of association, the Ninth Circuit directly contradicted Supreme Court precedent granting groups the right to choose their membership based on shared beliefs.

Since the Ninth Circuit's September 2008 ruling in Truth, both the Ninth Circuit and a federal district court have upheld denials of recognition to religious student groups in separate cases at the University of California at Hastings Law School and two California State University system schools.

On April 29, 2009, FIREfiled a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of Truth v. Kent School District because the right to associate with others of like mind is a fundamental American freedom. The Ninth Circuit has failed to recognize that student groups have the right to form around shared beliefs, and that failure has already damaged expressive rights at public colleges. If allowed to stand, the Ninth Circuit's decision in Truth v. Kent will eliminate the right of student groups to define themselves by the principles they believe in.

On May 1, 2009, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.