The lawsuit that forced Virginia Military Institute to accept female cadets for the first time in its 162-year history has been dropped. U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser dismissed the 10-year-old case Thursday night, ruling that VMI had successfully transformed into a coed institution. The decision ends the court's supervision of VMI.
My, that was ... fast. Most such oversight cases go on for quite a few years -- more than five, anyway.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union told VMI to scrap a proposal to require cadets to leave school if they become pregnant or cause a pregnancy. In a letter sent to VMI officials Friday, ACLU Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis said the proposed policy discriminates against women. "A woman cadet could not possibly hide a pregnancy more than a few months," he said. "A man who causes a pregnancy, on the other hand, may never be detected. VMI spokesman Chuck Steenburgh said Kiser has already looked at the proposal. "Just because the ACLU jumps up and says they have a problem with it, I don't see any reason we should take heed of them," Steenburgh said.
Well, this will be interesting. I suspect what will happen is that the judge will want to wait and see the effects of the policy before doing anything. These days, courts are inclined to look for discriminatory intent rather than discriminatory effect, and a policy that's gender-neutral on its face stands a pretty good chance of surviving. (Although saying "why should we take heed of the ACLU?", under the circumstances, is pretty much spitting into the wind. I mean, the reason you take heed of the ACLU is that they sued you and won once before; that's the kind of thing most people really prefer to avoid, you know?)
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!