LAW FROM THE CENTER

Today, Howard Bashman of How Appealing fame, filed a brief on behalf of three law school veterans associations supporting the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment in FAIR v. Rumsfeld, a case currently before the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. For those unaware of the issue, the Solomon Amendment requires all universities receiving federal funding to provide access to military recruiters to ensure our Armed Forces have access to our nation's best and brightest. Many law schools have traditionally excluded military recruiters on the basis that they do not allow homosexuals to serve openly, in violation of school discrimination policy for employers.

The brief advances three main arguments in support of the Solomon Amendment (quoted from Press Release):

- The military will suffer from the JAG corps' inability to effectively recruit on law school campuses, both in its operational needs for lawyers and its obligation to provide effective legal representation to military personnel.

- Law students interested in the economic and educational opportunities of military service will suffer if law schools restrict their access to military recruiters on campus, or if career service offices decline to offer critical information about the military to students to best situate them for future career decisions.

- Veterans enrolled in law school will suffer from having an organization they served in summarily removed from campus solely because the military complies, as required by federal law, with the "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" statute, which has been deemed constitutional by every court that has considered its legality.

Veterans organizations from UCLA School of Law, College of William & Mary School of Law, and Washburn University Law School are represented in the brief. The amicus brief of the veterans organizations, as well as the press release describing the brief, can be found at the UCLAW Veterans Society web site.

DISCLOSURE: The Centrist is a member of the UCLAW Veterans Society, a party in the amicus brief, and is a contributing author to the brief.