Assessment 02.

07

Summary: United States v. Virginia (1996)

The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) boasted a long and proud tradition as Virginia's only
exclusively male public undergraduate higher learning institution. The United States sued
Virginia and VMI alleging that the school's male-only admissions policy was unconstitutional. On
appeal from a District Court ruling favoring VMI, the Fourth Circuit reversed. It found VMI's
admissions policy to be unconstitutional. Virginia, in response to the Fourth Circuit's reversal,
proposed to create the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership (VWIL) as a parallel program
for women. On appeal from the District Court's affirmation of the plan, the Fourth Circuit ruled
that despite the difference in prestige between the VMI and VWIL, the two programs would offer
"substantively comparable" educational benefits. The United States appealed to the Supreme
Court.

The Court held that VMI's male-only admissions policy was unconstitutional because it failed to
show "exceedingly persuasive justification" for VMI's gender-biased admissions policy. Virginia
failed to support its claim that single-sex education contributes to educational diversity because
it did not show that VMI's male-only admissions policy was created or maintained in order to
further educational diversity. Furthermore, Virginia's VWIL could not offer women the same
benefits as VMI offered men. The VWIL would not provide women with the same rigorous
military training, faculty, courses, facilities, financial opportunities, or alumni reputation and
connections that VMI affords its male cadets.

Source: Oyez, Facts and Opinion of the Case, United States v. Virginia

A. Identify the constitutional provision that is common in both United States v.

Virginia (1996) and Brown v. Board of Education, I (1954).
The constitutional provision in common between the two cases is the equal protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. For United States v. Virginia, it is about the protecting
women from sex discrimination, while for Brown v. Board of Education it is about protecting
black citizens from segregation discrimination.

B. Based on the constitutional provision provided in part (A), explain how the
decision in Brown v. Board of Education, I (1954) compares to the decision United
States v. Virginia (1996).
The decision in Brown changed discrimination law so that the national government
intervenes against the discriminatory actions of state and local governments, and made it so
that state governments no longer had the power to do racial segregation. The decisions of
United States v. Virginia is about sex discrimination, and how the VMI did not have the
justification to prevent female students from being admitted. This reaffirmed the national
governments power to step in if it saw the decisions of state governments as discriminatory.
What both these cases have in common is they are about the equal protection clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.

C. Explain how voters, representatives, or federal officials who disagree with the
holding in United States v. Virginia (1996) could act to limit its impact.
Voters could limit the impact of United States v. Virginia by voting in different officials as well
as avoiding supporting the VMI as long as they admit women. Representatives could also
elect officials who would be less likely to support decisions based on this case. Federal
officials can make subsequent decisions which create qualifications as an attempt to subvert
the law. As well, they may make decisions against the law and wait for another Supreme
Court case.