Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al. v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc., et al. (547 U.S. 47)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 6, 2006 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 547 U.S. 47 · 126 S. Ct. 1297
- Decided
- March 6, 2006
- Term
- October Term 2005
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Roberts
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court. When law schools began restricting the access of military recruiters to their students because of disagreement with the Government’s policy on homosexuals in the military, Congress responded by enacting the Solomon Amendment. See 10 U. S. C. § 983 (2000 ed. and Supp. IV). That provision specifies that if any part of an institution of higher education denies military recruiters access equal to that provided other recruiters, the entire institution would lose certain federal funds. The law schools responded by suing, alleging that the Solomon Amendment infringed their First Amendment freedoms of speech and association. The District Court disagreed but was reversed by a divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which ordered the District Court to enter a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Solomon Amendment. We granted certiorari. I Respondent Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc. (FAIR), is an association of law schools and law faculties. App. 5. Its declared mission is “to promote academic freedom, support educational institutions in opposing discrimination and vindicate the rights of institutions of higher education.” Id., at 6. FAIR members have adopted policies expressing their opposition to discrimination based on, among other factors, sexual orientation. Id., at 18. They…
Excerpt of a 38,696-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.