In a 21-page opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the U. S. Supreme court rejected arguments that colleges have a First Amendment right to exclude recruiters whose hiring practices conflict with their own antidiscrimination policies.
The court ruled unanimously this morning that the federal government can withhold federal funds from colleges that bar or restrict military recruiting on their campuses, upholding a decade-old law (known as the Solomon Amendment) requiring colleges to provide equal access to military recruiters.
The Supreme Court’s decision in the case, Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, No. 04-1152, overturned a 2004 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which found that the military had failed to show that its recruiting needs justified the intrusion on law schools’ constitutional rights. In its ruling, the appeals court cited a 2000 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, that allowed the Boy Scouts to exclude a gay assistant scoutmaster.
Even the so-called “liberals” on the Court were willing to toss out free speech and nondiscrimination arguments in deference to the military.