, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday appeared likely to uphold a law that punishes colleges when they try to keep the military off campus.
The Solomon Amendment, named after the late Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., and enacted by Congress in 1996, punishes "institutions of higher education" that give access to civilian recruiters, but prevent military recruiting or Reserve Officers Training Corps access on campus.
The law denies those institutions grants or contracts from the Defense Department, the Education Department and other federal agencies.
An appeals court panel in Philadelphia earlier ruled 2-1 that the law violates the free speech rights of colleges that want to protest the Defense Department's policy of refusing to let gays and lesbians serve openly in uniform.
But in high court argument Tuesday, the only opposition to the law appeared to come from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with lesser opposition from Justice David Souter, scotusblog.com reported.
Chief Justice John Roberts "made it clear ... he sees the case as solely one in which the law schools can pursue their desire to exclude the military's recruiters simply by giving up federal funds," scotusblog.com said.
The Supreme Court should rule in the case within the next several months.
