According to the New York Times, http://nytimes.com/2003/09/20/education/20LAW.html <http://nytimes.com/2003/09/20/education/20LAW.html> , "An organization of law schools and a group representing hundreds of legal scholars [SALT] sued the Department of Defense . . . yesterday, . . . argu[ing] that the Solomon amendment violates law schools' First Amendment rights to academic freedom." The amendment, of course, requires schools to allow military recruiters as a condition of getting federal funds. Does anyone know a bit more about the underlying First Amendment theory? Would it also jeopardize, for instance, Title VI or Title IX, on the grounds that those statutes interfere with law schools' First Amendment rights to academic freedom, too? (After all, interference with the ability to choose one's students is a greater burden on academic freedom than is interference with the ability to exclude occasional interviewers.)
Also, any thought on why SALT would have standing? Presumably it's suing on behalf of its members, but what's the injury to a professor -- as opposed to the institution -- from military recruiters coming on the campus at which the professor happens to teach? Thanks, Eugene
