United States v. Virginia

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United States v. Virginia
4th Cir.
1992), certiorari denied, 508 U.S. 946 (1993), on remand, judgment for defendants, 852 F. Supp. 471 (W.D. Va. 1994), aff'd, 44 F.3d 1229 (4th Cir. 1995), motion for rehearing en banc denied, 52 F.3d 90 (4th Cir. 1995), certiorari granted 516 U.S. 910 (1995).
Holding
  • Parties who seek to defend gender-based government action must demonstrate an "exceedingly persuasive justification" for that action.
  • Virginia's categorical exclusion of women from the educational opportunities VMI provides denies equal protection to women.
  • The remedy proffered by Virginia-maintain VMI as a male-only college and create VWIL as a separate program for women-does not cure the constitutional violation.
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
MajorityGinsburg, joined by Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Breyer
ConcurrenceRehnquist (in judgment)
DissentScalia
Thomas took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV

United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996), is a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the long-standing male-only admission policy of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in a 7–1 decision. Justice Clarence Thomas, whose son was enrolled at the university at the time, recused himself.[1]

Majority decision

Writing for the majority, Justice

liberal arts women's college.[1]

Justice Ginsburg found, however, that the VWIL would not provide women with the same type of rigorous

cadets, a decision evocative of Sweatt v. Painter (1950), in which the Court ruled that segregated law schools in Texas were unconstitutional, since a newly formed black law school clearly did not provide the same benefits to its students as the state's prestigious and long-maintained white law school.[1] In her opinion, she stated: "The VWIL program is a pale shadow of VMI in terms of the range of curricular choices and faculty stature, funding, prestige, alumni support and influence."[3]

Rehnquist concurrence

Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote a concurrence agreeing to strike down the male-only admissions policy of the Virginia Military Institute, as violative of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.[3] However, he declined to join the majority opinion's basis for using the Fourteenth Amendment, writing: "Had Virginia made a genuine effort to devote comparable public resources to a facility for women, and followed through on such a plan, it might well have avoided an equal protection violation."[3] This rationale supported separate but equal facilities separated on the basis of sex: "[I]t is not the 'exclusion of women' that violates the Equal Protection Clause, but the maintenance of an all-men school without providing any—much less a comparable—institution for women ... It would be a sufficient remedy, I think, if the two institutions offered the same quality of education and were of the same overall caliber."[3]

Scalia dissent

Justice Scalia's lone dissent argued that the standard applied by the majority was closer to a strict scrutiny standard than the intermediate scrutiny standard applied to previous cases involving equal protection based on sex. Notably, however, the opinion for the Court eschewed either standard; its language did not comport with the "important governmental interest" formula used in prior intermediate scrutiny cases. Scalia argued: "[I]f the question of the applicable standard of review for sex-based classifications were to be regarded as an appropriate subject for reconsideration, the stronger argument would be not for elevating the standard to strict scrutiny, but for reducing it to rational-basis review."[1]

Scalia made sure to provide Ginsburg with a copy of his dissent as quickly as he could, in order for her to better respond to it in her majority opinion.[4][5] Ginsburg later recalled that Scalia "absolutely ruined my weekend, but my opinion is ever so much better because of his stinging dissent".[6]

Aftermath

As the senior justice,

National Public Radio, hailed Ginsburg's majority opinion as "the jewel in the crown of Ginsburg majority opinions".[8] Professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law Steve Vladeck was highly positive of the Ginsburg decision: "The majority opinion in the VMI case is perhaps the best-known and most important majority opinion Justice Ginsburg has penned in her 24 years on the Supreme Court. That case, more than any other, epitomized the justices’ effort to establish true sex equality as a fundamental constitutional norm, and its effects are continuing to reverberate today."[9]

Following the ruling, VMI contemplated going private to exempt itself from the 14th Amendment, and thus this ruling. The

senior military colleges, including VMI.[10] However, VMI's Board of Visitors had already voted 9–8 to admit women and did not revisit the issue after the law was amended.[1]

VMI was the last all-male public university in the United States.[1][11] Justice Ginsburg told cadets of the Virginia Military Institute in 2018 that she knew her opinion “would make VMI a better place”.[9] She also thought that those who were initially opposed would learn from their women classmates “how much good women could do for the institution.” [9]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-7006-1164-9
    .
  2. ^ Biskupic, Joan (June 27, 1996). "Supreme Court Invalidates Exclusion of Women by VMI". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e "United States v. Virginia :: 518 U.S. 515 (1996) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center". Justia Law.
  4. ^ Senior, Jennifer (September 22, 2020). "The Ginsburg-Scalia Act Was Not a Farce". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  5. ^ Brady, Terri (December 4, 2020). "How the "Notorious R.B.G." Used Persuasion to Advance Equality". The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  6. ^ Carmon, Irin (February 13, 2016). "What made the friendship between Scalia and Ginsburg work". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  7. ISBN 978-0062238467
    .
  8. ^
    National Public Radio. Archived from the original
    on March 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Ehrlich, Jamie (September 18, 2020). "Ruth Bader Ginsburg's most notable Supreme Court decisions and dissents". CNN. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  10. ^ "United States Code § 2111a. Support for senior military colleges". Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  11. ^ "United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996): Justia Opinion Summary and Annotations". Justia. Archived from the original on January 21, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2023.

Further reading

External links
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