Opinion ID: 3013601
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Congress Passes the Solomon Amendment

Text: The United States military excludes servicemembers based on evidence of homosexual conduct and/or orientation. See 10 U.S.C. § 654.3 Citing their nondiscrimination policies, 3 While the current statutory version of the military’s exclusionary policy has existed since 1993, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-160, § 571(a)(1), 107 Stat. 1547, 1670 (Nov. 30, 1993), the military has had formal regulatory policies excluding gays and lesbians since World War I and a practice of such exclusion since the 8 some law schools began in the 1980s refusing to provide access and assistance to military recruiters. This caught the attention of members of Congress. In 1994, Representative Gerald Solomon of New York sponsored an amendment to the annual defense appropriation bill that proposed to withhold DOD funding from any educational institution with a policy of denying or effectively preventing the military from obtaining entry to campuses (or access to students on campuses) for recruiting purposes. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, Pub. L. No. 103-337 Revolutionary War. See, e.g., Articles of War of 1916, Pub. L. No. 242, art. 93, 39 Stat. 619, 664 (assault with intent to commit sodomy punishable by court martial); see generally Randy Shilts, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays & Lesbians in the U.S. Military 11–17 (1994). Under the current statute, a servicemember is separated from the military if it is found that he or she “engaged in . . . a homosexual act” or “stated that he or she is a homosexual” or “married or attempted to marry a person known to be of the same biological sex.” 10 U.S.C. § 654(b). It defines “homosexual” and “homosexual act” to include evidence demonstrating “a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts.” Id. It also allows servicemembers to rebut findings of proscribed conduct with evidence of the lack of a propensity to engage in homosexual conduct, i.e., evidence of a heterosexual orientation. Id. Law schools interpret the ban as conflicting with their policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. 9 § 558, 108 Stat. 2663, 2776 (1994). During debate in the House of Representatives, Representative Solomon urged the passage of his amendment “on behalf of military preparedness” because “recruiting is the key to an all-volunteer military.” 140 Cong. Rec. H3861 (daily ed. May 23, 1994). He argued that it was hypocritical for schools to receive federal money while at the same time denying the military access to their campuses: “[T]ell[] recipients of Federal money at colleges and universities that if you do not like the Armed Forces, if you do not like its policies, that is fine. That is your [F]irst [A]mendment right[]. But do not expect Federal dollars to support your interference with our military recruiters.” Id. The amendment’s co-sponsor, Representative Richard Pombo of California, said Congress needed to target “policies of ambivalence or hostility to our Nation’s armed services” that are “nothing less than a backhanded slap at the honor and dignity of service in our Nation’s Armed Forces.” Id. at H3863. He urged his colleagues to “send a message over the wall of the ivory tower of higher education” that colleges’ and universities’ “starry-eyed idealism comes with a price. If they are too good—or too righteous—to treat our Nation’s military with the respect it deserves[,] then they may also be too good to receive the generous level of taxpayer dollars presently enjoyed by many institutions of higher education in America.” Id. 10 Other Representatives opposed the amendment, alleging violations of academic freedom and civil rights. See, e.g., id. at H3862 (Rep. Dellums) (“We should not . . . chill or abridge privacy, speech, or conscience by threatening a college with a Federal funds termination because it chose for whatever reason to deny access to military recruiters . . . . We should not browbeat them . . . into becoming involuntary agents of Federal policy.”). In light of Vietnam War-era legislation, rarely invoked, that already granted the DOD discretion to withhold funding from colleges and universities that barred military recruiters, see Pub. L. No. 92-436, § 606, 86 Stat. 734, 740 (1972), the DOD itself objected to the proposed amendment as “unnecessary” and “duplicative.” 140 Cong. Rec. H3864 (Rep. Schroeder) (explaining the DOD’s position). The DOD also feared that withholding funds from universities could be potentially harmful to defense research initiatives. Id. But the House voted for the amendment by a vote of 271 to 126. Id. at H3865. Several months later the Senate approved the defense spending appropriations bill, including Representative Solomon’s amendment, and the “Solomon Amendment” ultimately became law.