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Solomon amendment tested in US Supreme Court
December 04, 2005 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
Does the 1st amendment protect schools from losing federal funds when they refuse to allow military recruiters? The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments on that question on December 6 in Rumsfeld v. Forum For Academic and Institutional Rights (No. 04-1152).
- The Solomon Amendment allows the Secretary of Defense to deny grants to any university that prohibits on-campus recruitment by the military.
- Most law schools have policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and refuse to allow the use of school resources for recruiting by employers who engage in sexual orientation discrimination - including the military.
- The government response has been to threaten withdrawal of funding - not just for the law school, but for the whole university.
- A group of schools sued to enjoin the application of the Solomon Amendment on the ground that it impairs the 1st amendment rights of the schools.
- The trial court refused to issue a temporary injunction.
- The 3rd Circuit reversed, holding that the schools were likely to prevail on their first amendment arguments.
- The US Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the 3rd Circuit decision.
Decision below: Forum v. Rumsfeld (3rd Cir 11/29/2004)
Briefs: http://www.lawmemo.com/docs/us/forum/
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Editor: Ross Runkel, Professor of Law Emeritus. email Ross@LawMemo.Com, Phone 503-399-8028. Copyright LawMemo, Inc.
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