Military Recruiters Here to Stay

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Rumsfeld v. F.A.I.R., which examines the Solomon Amendment that requires colleges receiving federal funds to give military recruiters the same access to students that it gives to other potential employers on campus.

In other words, if colleges allow employers of any stripe to recruit its students for potential employment, then it must allow the US military to do the same...unless it wants to lose its federal funding.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit may have struck down the law, but if my assessment of the oral arguments is correct it will be upheld by the highest court.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter are likely to dissent, but it's hard to argue against the point Chief Justice Roberts made when he said that if colleges don't want military recruiters on campus, they can simply just refuse federal funds.

The Solomon Amendment is perfectly constitutional and I expect it to be rightfully upheld.