ACLU Expresses Disappointment Over Supreme Court Ruling in Military Recruitment Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment over a Supreme Court ruling that upholds a federal law requiring colleges to allow military recruiters on campus or else lose out on federal funding. The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, Rumsfeld v. FAIR, arguing that it is unconstitutional for Congress to force law schools that object to discrimination against gay people to give the military access to their recruitment programs.

The following quote can be attributed to ACLU Legal Director Steven R. Shapiro.

“We disagree with the Court’s decision today in Rumsfeld v. FAIR. Universities should not be punished by the loss of their federal funding merely because they apply the same non-discrimination policies to the military that they apply to every other employer that seeks to recruit on campus.”

“At the same time, the unanimity of today’s decision strongly suggests that the Court did not think it was changing any existing constitutional rules. Certainly, nothing in today’s decision endorses the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy or any other form of discrimination against gay people.”

For more information on the case, go to www.aclu.org/scotus/2005/21282res20050922.html041152/21282res20050922.html