[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1115-E1116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS LETTER REGARDING NON-DISCRIMINATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 16, 2010

  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I recently received a letter 
from the Association of American Law Schools regarding recent 
Congressional consideration for expanding non-discrimination policies. 
I ask unanimous consent to have the attached letter inserted into the 
Congressional Record on the Association's behalf.
                                                    Association of


                                         American Law Schools,

                                     Washington, DC, May 26, 2010.
     Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
     Speaker of the House, House of Representatives, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Speaker Pelosi: We write today regarding your 
     important efforts to extend anti-discrimination principles to 
     access to military service. We hope that the following 
     comments will be of assistance to you and to the House as it 
     considers this reform.
       Non-discrimination principles form a critical foundation 
     for our democracy. The promise of opportunity for all and the 
     aspirations of individuals to achieve underpin the character 
     of American society. Without question, military service has 
     played an important role over several generations in 
     supporting the idea of individual improvement. Through 
     specific training, as well as the development of personal 
     characteristics such as discipline and responsibility, the 
     military has been a path to greater capabilities and a better 
     life for many young Americans. Military service has itself 
     provided knowledge and has often led individuals to higher 
     education. Beginning with the GI Bill of Rights after World 
     War II, educational benefits provided to returning combat 
     veterans created a potentially transformative educational 
     path for individual veterans, and, in the process, 
     strengthened the nation's capacities for innovation and 
     productivity. In our law schools over the last 60 years we 
     have seen the powerful effects of military experience and of 
     this national assistance for veterans. We also understand 
     that for many Americans military service has been a 
     meaningful way to participate in our democracy.
       Today, however, military service is not open to all who 
     wish to serve our country. We hope that this year the 
     Congress will act to provide equal access to military 
     service, by extending non-discrimination principles to the 
     many who are now discouraged or prevented from serving 
     because of the current ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy.


                      brief background of the aals

       Formed in 1900 for the purpose of improving the legal 
     profession through legal education, the Association of 
     American Law Schools (AALS) is a voluntary membership 
     organization of 171 law schools. AALS membership has been 
     regarded as an important indicator of the quality of a law 
     school. The AALS pursues our purpose of strengthening legal 
     education through two principal vehicles (1) a membership 
     process which periodically evaluates law schools, and (2) 
     programs for law teachers and administrators, designed to 
     encourage innovation, further strong teaching and excellent 
     curricula and foster a climate of inquiry through teaching 
     and research that will strengthen the law and the legal 
     profession.
       Only rarely does the AALS speak in the legislative process 
     or seek to address a court in the context of a case before 
     it. We consider doing so only in circumstances where our core 
     educational values or the educational programs and related 
     judgments of member schools are strongly implicated. We 
     regard the issue before you now as one of those moments.


           a historical look at non-discrimination principles

       A neutral look at our national history on issues of 
     discrimination since the end of World War II makes clear that 
     each of the watersheds in 20th century non-discrimination law 
     were not the obvious decisions that one could assume in 
     retrospect, but rather were hotly contested. The House that 
     passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had only twelve female 
     members. At the time of the vote on the historic legislation, 
     there were nine minority members in the House, all of them 
     male. One was an Asian American from the young state of 
     Hawaii (World War II veteran Spark Matsunaga, who was twice 
     wounded in battle while serving with Japanese-American 
     segregated units sent to war while many family members of his 
     fellow soldiers had been assigned to relocation centers on 
     the West coast). Three were Latinos, representing districts 
     in Texas, New Mexico, and California. The remaining five were 
     all African-Americans from northern states. And the House and 
     history would have to wait for nine more years before the 
     first post-Reconstruction African American from the South was 
     seated in the House of Representatives.
       Ending racial segregation in the military took Presidential 
     action. It was President Eisenhower's view that federal 
     institutions should be at the forefront of upholding the 
     ideal of racial equality. Then as now, discrimination on the 
     part of the federal government is fundamentally and deeply 
     troubling. As a revered military leader, Eisenhower as 
     President was able to bring about implementation of President 
     Truman's 1948 Executive Order to desegregate the military. 
     The Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 gave women 
     permanent status in the Army, Navy, Marines (and later Air 
     Force and Coast Guard) and from the 1960's through the 
     present women have been granted further access to opportunity 
     in the military.


                    aals non-discrimination policies

       The AALS acted to require its members to avoid 
     discrimination based on race or color in 1951. Nineteen years 
     later, in 1970, a requirement of non-discrimination covering 
     women was added to the AALS By-Laws. Two decades ago the AALS 
     membership acted to include discrimination based on sexual 
     orientation in the list of prohibited categories of 
     discrimination for AALS member schools. AALS Bylaw Sec.  
     Section 6-3 states that each member school undertakes to 
     ``provide equality of opportunity in legal educatin for all . 
     . . enrolled students . . . without discrimination or 
     segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, national 
     origin, sex, age disability or sexual orientation.'' The 
     concept of non-discrimination is critical to our democracy 
     and crucial to the training of lawyers who, among others, act 
     as stewards of democratic ideals. The role of law and lawyers 
     in our society is to further the orderly conduct of the 
     society, including the resolution of disputes, and to 
     construct respect for the law and to establish and ensure the 
     qualities that will engender that respect, such as fairness, 
     level playing fields, and equality of opportunity. Inherently 
     then, law schools place a high priority on trying to instill 
     in lawyers their civic responsibilities and their role in 
     furthering democratic values.
       The application of non-discrimination principles to career 
     opportunities for law students became and remains a 
     particularly troublesome issue in the wake of passage of the 
     Solomon Amendment in 1996. In light of that federal law, the 
     AALS fashioned a compromise in the application of its own 
     non-discrimination principles. That compromise allows 
     military recruiters on law school campuses but requires 
     member schools to ``ameliorate'' that presence and make clear 
     the inconsistency between the schools'' non-discrimination 
     policies and the military's

[[Page E1116]]

     exclusion of openly gay and lesbian individuals. The purpose 
     was to ensure that each law school community would 
     communicate its inclusive and non-discriminatory values to 
     all members of the community. This compromise, while deemed 
     the best solution within the legal context in which the AALS 
     found itself, is inherently and deeply troublesome for two 
     reasons. University-based law schools implicitly sanction 
     discrimination based on sexual orientation when they include 
     military recruiters rather than reject the federal funds so 
     important to their academic programs. At the same time, 
     attempts made by individual law schools and the AALS to 
     ensure that the full law school community understands why a 
     discriminatory employer has been permitted access to the 
     schools' career services have understandably (but wrongly) 
     been interpreted as indicative of the ``anti-military'' 
     attitudes of law schools, their leaders, and the AALS. We 
     emphasize that the AALS is supportive of our military and 
     recognizes that as the military has become more inclusive it 
     has become stronger both internally and in the public's 
     perception. We depend on the many young Americans whose 
     courage and commitment enables them to join the armed 
     services in order to actively participate in the defense of 
     the nation. It is the nobility of that service and the 
     inability of American citizens who are openly gay or lesbian 
     to serve that has prompted the AALS to argue consistently for 
     inclusion of these citizens in military service. The AALS is 
     committed to both non-discrimination and a strong military, 
     with access to opportunities in the military for all students 
     at our member schools, regardless of their sexual 
     orientation.
       The current law places the democratic ideal that 
     individuals should be judged as individuals and not based 
     upon group-based characteristics in a secondary status to 
     funding higher education programs. As such, it inherently 
     damages our democracy. Repealing the current law and 
     extending non-discrimination principles to include sexual 
     orientation will support and strengthen our democratic values 
     and strengthen the military.


  additional advantages of applying non-discrimination principles to 
                            military service

       Repeal of the ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy is certain 
     to ensure a larger pool of citizens who seek to serve their 
     country in the military, a much-needed result particularly 
     during this time of heavy on-going demands for those who are 
     now serving. Furthermore, the extension of non-discrimination 
     principles to the service of individuals regardless of their 
     sexual orientation will generate broader support for our 
     military branches. Over time, as military personnel work 
     together toward common purposes in service of the nation, 
     greater understanding and respect are likely to be furthered 
     in our broader culture. A diverse society depends on its 
     ability to develop qualities of tolerance and over-arching 
     shared values; American democracy and the opportunities it 
     has exemplified are grounded in the concept of a multi-
     faceted diversity, protected by guarantees of individual 
     liberties.


                               conclusion

       The AALS urges Congress to act soon to remove the 
     restrictions on military service that now exist, extending 
     the opportunity of military service without regard to the 
     sexual orientation of those who seek to volunteer for this 
     important service to our nation.
           Sincerely,
     Susan Westerberg Prager.

                          ____________________