The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to get involved in another potentially explosive social issue, saying it would decide whether the US government can cut off federal funding to colleges and universities that bar military recruiters from campus to protest the military's treatment of gays.
The decision to hear the case comes at a time when the US armed forces are struggling to meet recruitment goals. The US government, which lobbied hard for the justices to step in, says recruiting on college and university campuses is crucial in time of war.
The case, which will be heard during the Supreme Court term that begins in October, will place the justices at the centre of the controversy over gays in the military. Homosexuals are banned from serving openly in the US military. The last time the court addressed the question of homosexuality - when it struck down a state anti-sodomy law in 2003 - it sparked a culture war over gay marriage which continues today.
This case involves the constitutionality of a 1994 law federal law requiring colleges and universities to give military recruiters the same access it gives other employers. If they refuse, they can lose federal funding. A coalition of law schools challenged the law, saying it forced them to violate their own anti-discrimination policies. A federal appeals court blocked the government from enforcing the law, because it violated the constitutional free speech rights of the law schools that sued.
The court said the presence of military recruiters on campus forces schools to send a message that they accept discrimination against homosexuals, forcing them to "propagate, accommodate and subsidise" a message with which they disagree. The US government appealed the ruling, saying military recruitment would be "seriously undermined" if law schools can bar recruiters from campus. "Military lawyers play a vital role in the ongoing combat missions of the armed forces and the military services depend significantly on campus access to recruit the lawyers they need to carry out their missions," the government said in a brief to the court.
The law, known as the Solomon Amendment, "reflects Congress' judgment that a crucial component of an effective military recruitment program is equal access to college and university campuses," the brief said. "If institutions do not wish to associate with military recruiters," the government says "they may decline to associate with the federal funding."
