A Stitch in Haste

Judging from today's oral arguments, it appears that, as widely predicted, the Supreme Court will reverse the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and uphold the constitutionality of the so-called Solomon Amendment, 10 U.S.C. 983, which coerces colleges and universities to grant equal access to military recruiters despite their bigoted and discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Of course, the actual decision will be several months away, but here are some hasty stitches, some of which I've hinted at in previous posts.

--The whole issue of the Solomon Amendment will of course one day be moot. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is a stupid, embarrassing, counterproductive policy that will, of course, be scrapped eventually. The recruitment shortages resulting from the Iraq War have made that even more obvious.

--The real question now is not what will become of Rumsfeld v. FAIR, but rather what will become of Boy Scouts v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000). The Supreme Court will have to somehow reconcile the (anti-gay) Dale case in order to uphold the (anti-gay) Solomon Amendment. That doesn't mean Dale will be overturned, but it could mean that it will be rendered a precedential dead-end. So theoretically we could see a time when we don't have a robust Dale-inspired line of anti-gay cases and also no "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" or Solomon Amendment. I could live with that.

--So much for the idea that you can win any lawsuit so long as you hire the best possible lawyers. If it were that simple, then this coterie of elite law schools and Ivy League law professors should have won hands-down. Go figure.

Other thoughts at Coffeehouse Soapbox, LLP, UpWord.

UPDATE: You can listen to the oral arguments here (RealPlayer file).