U.S. court tosses campus recruiting rule

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A federal appeals panel in Philadelphia has overturned a law requiring universities to give access to military recruiters or lose federal funds.

The case, which had been described as pitting academic freedom against the power of federal purse strings, let a divided federal appeals panel rule in favor of invalidating the 10-year-old law forcing U.S. colleges and universities to give campus access to military recruiters or forfeit federal funding.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said Tuesday the 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a suit by New Jersey law professors and students and was the first to hold that the law violated universities' free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

Since 2003, when Congress began toughening the rule -- called the Solomon Amendment after its chief sponsor, former N.Y. GOP Rep. Gerald Solomon -- by expanding the types of federal funding at stake, four federal suits have challenged its constitutionality.

U.S. Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said lawyers were reviewing the opinion but had not decided whether to appeal. Many legal experts, however, say they believe an appeal is certain.