An ideologically split Supreme Court ruled Monday that a law school can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that won’t let gays join.

The court turned away an appeal from the Christian Legal Society, which sued to get funding and recognition from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.

The CLS requires that voting members sign a statement of faith and regards “unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle” as being inconsistent with that faith.

But Hastings said no recognized campus groups may exclude people due to religious belief or sexual orientation.

The court on a 5-4 judgment upheld the lower court rulings saying the Christian group’s First Amendment rights of association, free speech and free exercise were not violated by the college’s decision.

The court conservatives, led by Justice Alito, say that this is a case of freedom of expression. I don’t quite understand — no one was stopping these people from expressing themselves, they were just refusing to pay for it.  Here we are, with a rabidly ideological Supreme Court, which is putting politics above the law. Activist judges, indeed — it’s pretty much always the conservative judges that are guilty of activism.