A Worrisome State of Affairs
The Supreme Court has decided to hear the challenge to the Solomon Amendment. Why isn't that a good thing you ask?
Well, here's the problem, normally it would be great for the Supreme Court to hear this case [and strike down this ridiculous law] except for the fact that A. the Supreme Court is pretty conservative these days B. It's a time of war and do you really think the Court is going to decide against the military? C. Rehnquist is on his way out, in fact I'm willing to put money on a retirement announcement by the end of June. That gives W plenty of time to find some right wing wacko conservative to replace him.
So in this instance, it would've just been better if they had denied cert. Then the decision by the 3rd Circuit would stand and law schools could feel free to kick the military recruiters off campus and we wouldn't have to play nice with a bunch of bigots for federal funding.
To see why we should all be concerned about this, here is my very uneducated and uninformed synopsis of the Solomon Amendment:
Sec. 983(b) of the Solomon Amendment says that schools, or subunits of school (like law schools) who restrict military recruiters from campus or don't give students' personal information to military recruiters will not be given federal money, including student financial aid money, from the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health & Human Services, Education, or their related agencies. Fun thing is, even if the law school protested, the whole university would lose its federal funding, not just the law school.
The military has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which effectively prevents gay, lesbian and bi-sexual citizens from serving our country.
The Association of American Law Schools requires that law schools have a non-discrimination policy which protects faculty, staff & students from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
This policy requires law schools to ensure that employers recruiting on campus abide by the same non-discrimination policy. It also requires the schools to investigate any complaints from students about employers who do not abide by the policy.
Obviously the Solomon Amendment and the AALS don't get along and it's putting law schools in a tough spot. My school is fighting the good fight, they joined the FAIR law suit challenging the act which resulted in the 3rd Circuit decision holding the amendment unconstitutional.
Well, here's the problem, normally it would be great for the Supreme Court to hear this case [and strike down this ridiculous law] except for the fact that A. the Supreme Court is pretty conservative these days B. It's a time of war and do you really think the Court is going to decide against the military? C. Rehnquist is on his way out, in fact I'm willing to put money on a retirement announcement by the end of June. That gives W plenty of time to find some right wing wacko conservative to replace him.
So in this instance, it would've just been better if they had denied cert. Then the decision by the 3rd Circuit would stand and law schools could feel free to kick the military recruiters off campus and we wouldn't have to play nice with a bunch of bigots for federal funding.
To see why we should all be concerned about this, here is my very uneducated and uninformed synopsis of the Solomon Amendment:
Sec. 983(b) of the Solomon Amendment says that schools, or subunits of school (like law schools) who restrict military recruiters from campus or don't give students' personal information to military recruiters will not be given federal money, including student financial aid money, from the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health & Human Services, Education, or their related agencies. Fun thing is, even if the law school protested, the whole university would lose its federal funding, not just the law school.
The military has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which effectively prevents gay, lesbian and bi-sexual citizens from serving our country.
The Association of American Law Schools requires that law schools have a non-discrimination policy which protects faculty, staff & students from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
This policy requires law schools to ensure that employers recruiting on campus abide by the same non-discrimination policy. It also requires the schools to investigate any complaints from students about employers who do not abide by the policy.
Obviously the Solomon Amendment and the AALS don't get along and it's putting law schools in a tough spot. My school is fighting the good fight, they joined the FAIR law suit challenging the act which resulted in the 3rd Circuit decision holding the amendment unconstitutional.
So now we wait for the proverbial game of chicken, what is the Supreme Court going to do?!?
posted by Daughter of Shylock at 9:07 PM
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