Abstract
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck a tremendous blow to women's struggle for equality by allowing the Commonwealth of Virginia to continue to bar women from participation in the military experience at VMI. This blow was remedied, in part, by the action of the United States Supreme Court. By declaring the admission policy at VMI unconstitutional, the Supreme Court provided women seeking attendance at VMI equal protection of the law. The Court should be commended for taking a positive step in the fight against gender discrimination. The Supreme Court, however, passed up a perfect opportunity to write the final chapter of the gender discrimination debate. The Supreme Court should have declared that strict scrutiny applies to all classifications based on gender. Surely the Court will be given the opportunity to revisit the issue of gender-based discrimination, and perhaps then will choose the progressive approach-that gender is indeed a suspect classification and is therefore deserving of strictscrutiny equal protection and that "separate-but-equal" facilities cannot remedy a constitutional violation. Only then will both men and women be considered equal under the Constitution.
Recommended Citation
Kohler, Shayne R.
(1996)
"Dismantling a Relic of the Nineteenth Century:
An End to Discrimination at the Virginia
Military Institute,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1996:
No.
2, Article 10.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1996/iss2/10