SwiftVets.com

[Tacan70UDN]

Here we go again, just like back in the 70s! '

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--militaryrecruiter1129nov29,0,1277716.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

Court halts enforcement of law penalizing schools that bar military recruiters

By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press Writer

November 29, 2004, 6:09 PM EST

PHILADELPHIA -- An appeals court on Monday barred the Defense Department from withholding funds from colleges and universities that deny access to military recruiters.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a decade-old federal law known as the Solomon Amendment infringes on the free speech rights of schools that wish to limit on-campus recruiting in response to the military's ban on homosexuals.

Ruling in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of more than a dozen law schools around the country, a three-judge panel said that the government's threat to yank funding amounted to compelling the schools to take part in speech they didn't agree with.

"The Solomon Amendment requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom," the court wrote. "While no doubt military lawyers are critical to the efficient operation of the armed forces, mere incantation of the need for legal talent cannot override a clear First Amendment impairment."

The judges added that the law may have had the unintended effect of hampering recruiting by engendering ill-will among potential recruits.

By a 2-1 vote, the panel overturned an earlier decision by a federal judge that the people challenging the law were unlikely to prevail at trial.

The ruling affects all institutions of higher learning, but the case revolved around law schools because most had developed policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Monday's ruling represented the first time a court had enjoined the government from enforcing the law.

The Justice Department, which represented the government in the case, said it was examining the decision and reviewing its appeal options.

"The United States continues to believe that the Solomon Amendment is constitutional. As we argued in our brief, we believe that Congress may deny federal funds to universities which discriminate and may act to protect the men and women of our armed forces in their ability to recruit Americans who wish to join them in serving our country," the agency said in a statement.

One judge on the panel, Ruggero John Aldisert, wrote a stinging dissent, saying he was personally disturbed that law schools would, "as an academic exercise," ignore the consequences that a recruiting would have on the military's ability to compete with well-heeled law firms for young talent.

"They obviously do not desire that our men and women in the armed services, all members of a closed society, obtain optimum justice in military courts with the best-trained lawyers and judges," Aldisert said.

He said he disagreed with plaintiffs who argued that the schools were being asked to violate their own anti-discrimination policies by welcoming recruiters who won't take openly gay men and women.

"We cannot conclude that the mere presence of a uniformed military recruiter permits or compels the inference that a law school's anti-discrimination policy is violated," Aldisert said. "The subjective idiosyncratic impressions of some law students, some professors, or some anti-war protesters are not the test. What we know as men and women we cannot forget as judges."

[Beatrice1000]

[USAFE5]

My brother and sister were in High School during the tail end of the Vietnam War. My brother wanted to speak to a recruiter after school in the counseling center. The Principal told him that was against school policy. He had to met off school grounds with any recruiter for the military, but if he wanted to speak to a college recruiter they could set that up. So whether it was law or not in the 1970's it happened then too. At least in Southern California.
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"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I’m here to help." Ronald Reagan

[tony54]

Why do I have a sneaky suspicion that those two judges were appointed by the only admitted draft dodger, impeached president in the history of the USA?

[Padma]

Judge Ambro was appointed by President Bill Clinton. Judge Walter K. Stapleton, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, joined the majority.

The dissenting judge, Ruggero J. Aldisert, was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired)

[Sgt-Keeper]

Sometimes this old brain just can't make sense out of stuff. Let's see: The DoD has money. It wants recruiters on campus. The U says "no but we still want the money". The court says "give the U the money and they don't have to do anything for it".
Hmmmm. My kids would have loved that court.
Kid: "I want my allowance".
Dad: "Clean your room first"
Kid: "I don't have to! Mom!"
Mom: "Ok, here's your allowance. Your father is just an old meanie. You don't have to clean your room".
LIKE THAT WOULD HAVE WORKED!
Here we go again, courts making social policy! The DoD should just say no! What is the court going to do? Invade the Pentagon using law clerks?
_________________
Fix the problem, not the blame.
USMC E5 Nam vet 65-66

[Daniel J. Hutchison]

It is often said you should know history to avoid repeating past errors. You should also know history to understand what has worked in the past. In 1917 the State of Nebraska defined "Sedition" to include "Interfere with the enlistment, mobilization, equipment, movement or trasportation of any of the naval or military forces of the United States". Under the Nebraska law of 1918 any person deemed guilty of sedition upon conviciton shall be fined any sum not to exceed ten thounsand dollars, or be imprisioned in the County Jail for any period not to exceed twenty years. A full copy of the April 8, 1918 Nebraska law on sedition, sabotage and home guards can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~necivwar/ww1/
Nebraska had very few problems with sedition or sabotage during World War I. What our grand fathers used worked. I am not so sure the current status of allowing universities to interfere with enlistments is a plan for success in the war on terror.

[MSeeger]

[coldwarvet]

I'm itching for a fight please PM me about any demonstrations planed against the educrats in this country. We continue to fight three wars.

1. Jihad indoctrinated terrorists.
2. The American press
3. The educrats

Our troops are doing a great job on war number one, but who is standing in opposition to 2. & 3. ?
_________________
Defender of the honor of those in harms way keeping us out of harms way.

"Peace is our Profession"
Strategic Air Command - Motto

USAF 75-79 Security Police