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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Well, finally a small victory against federal intrusion and violation of
Constitutional freedoms in the U.S. and it wasn't even the Ninth District
that did it!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- >
>  http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/8441.html
>
> Issue date: 11.30.2004
>
> Solomon amendment overturned
> Appeals court rules colleges can bar military recruiters
>
> by Paul Whitlatch and Caroline Bernabei
> Staff Writers
>
> In a major victory for NYU, a federal appeals court struck down the
Solomon
> amendment yesterday, asserting that schools have a First Amendment right
to
> obstruct military recruiters from campus without risking the loss of
federal
> funding.
>
> Reversing a lower court's ruling, a three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit
> Court of Appeals in Philadelphia voted 2-to-1 to immediately suspend the
> law, which had punished colleges and universities that closed their doors
to
> recruiters in protest of the military's ban on gays. The ruling is a boon
> for the NYU School of Law, a member of the Forum for Academic and
> Institutional Rights, the lead plaintiff.
>
> The court said the Solomon amendment is a violation of free speech because
> it unfairly mandated that the law schools help disseminate a message with
> which they disagree.
>
> School of Law professor Silvia Law, who joined FAIR as an individual
> plaintiff in the lawsuit, said she was "completely thrilled" with
> yesterday's ruling.
>
> "We've been fighting this for years," she said. "The government has to
have
> a very good reason to trample our First Amendment rights - and they
didn't."
>
> FAIR, a coalition of law schools and other academic legal organizations,
> sued the Defense and five other departments in September 2003. The School
of
> Law, like other member institutions of FAIR, justified banning recruiters
> because the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is incompatible with
> school policies that protect students from discrimination on the basis of
> sexual orientation.
>
> A spokesman for the Justice Department said the government's position is
> unchanged and did not rule out an appeal to the Supreme Court.
>
> "The United States government continues to believe that the Solomon
> amendment is constitutional," he said. "We are examining the opinion and
> considering our options."
>
> School of Law Dean Richard Revesz said the school was pleased with the
> decision.
> "We are gratified by the court's protection of our right to exclude from
on
> campus interviews employers who refuse to hire qualified students simply
> because of their sexual orientation," he said in a statement.
>
> The law was introduced in 1994 by Rep. Gerald Solomon R-N.Y., who died in
> October 2001. He argued before the House of Representatives that
Department
> of Defense funds should be withheld from schools that barred recruiters
> because "recruiting is the key to our all-volunteer military" and that the
> "starry-eyed idealism" of colleges and universities "comes with a price."
>
> Since its passage, Congress expanded the Solomon amendment several times
to
> include withholding funds from additional government agencies, including
the
> Department of Transportation and the Department of Education.
>
> NYU's law school lost money for years while banning recruiters on campus,
> but decided to allow the military back after the law was amended to
> financially penalize an entire institution, like NYU, if one of its
> elements, like the law school, resisted military recruiters.
>
> Ironically, in its argument affirming the right of the schools to oppose
the
> military's perceived discrimination against gays, the court cited a
Supreme
> Court decision in 2000 that upheld the right of the Boy Scouts of America
to
> reject gay scoutmasters.
>
> NYU student groups who have advocated against the Solomon amendment said
> they were happy with the ruling.
>
> "I think it's great," said Shaun Rosenstein, president of Queer Union,
NYU's
> largest LGBT student organization. "I think in a year where so many people
> feel that we've taken a step backward in civil rights equality that this
is
> encouraging." .
>
> -- additional reporting by Russell Berman
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> The chronology of the Solomon amendment
>
> 1994 - Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., first proposes the Solomon amendment,
> which would withhold Department of Defense funding from schools who do not
> allow military recruiters.
>
> 1995 - Solomon amendment becomes law.
>
> 1997 - Congress amends the Solomon amendment to withhold funds from
> additional federal agencies.
>
> Jan. 2000 - Amendment clarified to make all parts of an institution
> financially liable for barred recruiters.
>
> Sept. 2003 - FAIR sues the Department of Defense and the other federal
> departments whose funds are withheld under the Solomon amendment.
>
> Oct. 2003 - NYU School of Law acknowledges membership in FAIR.
>
> Nov. 2003 - U.S. District Court refuses to issue injunction halting
Solomon
> amendment. FAIR appeals.
>
> Nov. 29, 2004 - 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals rules in favor of FAIR.
>
> -- compiled by Caroline Bernabei, staff writer