United States v. Virginia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids United States v. Virginia |
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| Argued January 17, 1996 Decided June 26, 1996 |
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| Full case name | United States v. Virginia et al. |
| Citations | 518 U.S. 515 (more)
116 S. Ct. 2264; 135 L. Ed. 2d 735; 1996 U.S. LEXIS 4259; 64 U.S.L.W. 4638; 96 Cal. Daily Op. Service 4694; 96 Daily Journal DAR 7573; 10 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 93
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| Prior history | Judgment for defendants, 766 F. Supp. 1407 (W.D. Va. 1991) vacated, 976 F.2d 890 (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 | |
| Commonwealth of Virginia's exclusion of women from the Virginia Military Institute violated Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Ginsburg, joined by Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Breyer |
| Concurrence | Rehnquist |
| Dissent | Scalia |
| Thomas took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. XIV | |
United States v. Virginia was an important case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1996. The case was about whether the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a public college, could continue to only admit men. The Supreme Court decided that VMI's male-only policy was against the law.
The Court ruled 7-1 that VMI had to start admitting women. Justice Clarence Thomas did not take part in the decision. This was because his son was a student at VMI at the time.
Contents
Why VMI's Policy Was Unfair
The Supreme Court looked at VMI's policy of only admitting men. They found that VMI could not show a very strong reason for keeping women out. This went against the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This amendment includes the Equal Protection Clause, which means everyone should be treated equally under the law.
The State's Idea for Women
To try and meet the equal protection rules, the state of Virginia suggested a separate program for women. This program was called the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership (VWIL). It was located at Mary Baldwin College, which was a private college for women.
Why the Women's Program Wasn't Equal
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the main opinion for the Court. She explained that the VWIL program was not equal to VMI. It did not offer women the same tough military training. It also lacked the same facilities, classes, and teachers.
VWIL also did not have the same financial chances or the strong network of former students (alumni) that VMI had. Justice Ginsburg said that VWIL was just "a pale shadow of VMI." This meant it was much weaker in many ways. This decision was similar to an older case, Sweatt v. Painter (1950). In that case, the Court said that separate law schools for Black students were not equal to white law schools.
Chief Justice Rehnquist's View
Chief Justice William Rehnquist agreed that VMI's male-only policy was wrong. He also agreed it violated the Fourteenth Amendment. However, he had a slightly different reason for his decision.
He believed that if Virginia had created a truly equal school for women, it might have been okay. He thought that having separate schools for men and women could be allowed if they were both of the same high quality. He said the problem was not just keeping women out, but not offering them a similar school.
Justice Scalia's Disagreement
Justice Antonin Scalia was the only justice who disagreed with the Court's decision. He argued that the Court was using a stricter rule than it had in past cases about sex discrimination. He felt the Court should have used a less strict rule.
Justice Scalia quickly shared his dissenting opinion with Justice Ginsburg. Ginsburg later said that his strong disagreement made her own opinion even better.
What Happened After the Ruling
After the Supreme Court's decision, VMI had to change its policy. Sandra Day O'Connor, another justice, could have written the main opinion. But she let Justice Ginsburg write it. She felt it was an important moment for Ginsburg.
Justice Ginsburg's opinion made it clear that laws cannot deny women "full citizenship stature." This means women must have equal chances to succeed and contribute to society. A journalist named Nina Totenberg called Ginsburg's opinion "the jewel in the crown."
VMI thought about becoming a private school. If it were private, it might not have to follow the Fourteenth Amendment rules. But the United States Department of Defense warned VMI. They said they would stop all ROTC programs at the school if it went private. ROTC helps students become military officers.
Because of this warning, Congress changed a law. The new law said the military could not stop ROTC programs at certain military colleges, including VMI. Even so, VMI's leaders had already voted to admit women. They did not change their decision after the law was amended.
VMI was the last public college in the United States that only admitted men.
