3.07.2006
U.S. Wins Ruling Over Recruiting at Universities (NYTimes.com)
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: March 7, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 6 — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a law that cuts federal financing for universities if they do not give military recruiters the same access to students that other potential employers receive. The court ruled that the law does not violate the free-speech rights of universities that object to the military's exclusion of gay men and lesbians who are open about their sexual orientation.
The opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was unanimous.
It was a setback, although hardly an unexpected one, to a coalition of law schools that brought the constitutional challenge, as well as to the Association of American Law Schools, which represents nearly all accredited law schools and since 1991 has required adherence to a nondiscrimination policy on sexual orientation as a condition of membership.
Many law schools initially chose to comply with the association's policy by barring military recruiters or by taking such steps as refusing to help the recruiters schedule appointments or relegating them to less favorable locations for meeting with students.
Congress responded with a series of increasingly punitive measures, all known as the Solomon Amendment, culminating in the 2004 statute at issue in the case. It requires access for military recruiters "that is at least equal in quality and scope" to access for other employers, on pain of forfeiting grants to the entire university from eight federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Education, and Health and Human Services.
With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, all but a handful of law schools yielded. Nearly three dozen banded together as the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights and turned to the courts.
(More ... U.S. Wins Ruling Over Recruiting at Universities - New York Times) ¶ 19:58
Published: March 7, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 6 — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a law that cuts federal financing for universities if they do not give military recruiters the same access to students that other potential employers receive. The court ruled that the law does not violate the free-speech rights of universities that object to the military's exclusion of gay men and lesbians who are open about their sexual orientation.
The opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was unanimous.
It was a setback, although hardly an unexpected one, to a coalition of law schools that brought the constitutional challenge, as well as to the Association of American Law Schools, which represents nearly all accredited law schools and since 1991 has required adherence to a nondiscrimination policy on sexual orientation as a condition of membership.
Many law schools initially chose to comply with the association's policy by barring military recruiters or by taking such steps as refusing to help the recruiters schedule appointments or relegating them to less favorable locations for meeting with students.
Congress responded with a series of increasingly punitive measures, all known as the Solomon Amendment, culminating in the 2004 statute at issue in the case. It requires access for military recruiters "that is at least equal in quality and scope" to access for other employers, on pain of forfeiting grants to the entire university from eight federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Education, and Health and Human Services.
With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, all but a handful of law schools yielded. Nearly three dozen banded together as the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights and turned to the courts.
(More ... U.S. Wins Ruling Over Recruiting at Universities - New York Times) ¶ 19:58
