United States v. Virginia

United States v. Virginia
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 17, 1996 Decided June 26, 1996
Full case name	United States v. Virginia et al.
Citations	518 U.S. 515 (more) 116 S. Ct. 2264; 135 L. Ed. 2d 735; 1996 U.S. LEXIS 4259; 64 U.S.L.W. 4638; 96 Cal. Daily Op. Service 4694; 96 Daily Journal DAR 7573; 10 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 93
Case history
Prior	Judgment for defendants, 766 F. Supp. 1407 (W.D. Va. 1991) vacated, 976 F.2d 890 (4th Cir. 1992), certiorari denied, 508 U.S. 946 (1993), on remand, judgment for defendants, 852 F. Supp. 471 (W.D. Va. 1994), aff'd, 44 F.3d 1229 (4th Cir. 1995), motion for rehearing en banc denied, 52 F.3d 90 (4th Cir. 1995), certiorari granted 516 U.S. 910 (1995).
Holding
Parties who seek to defend gender-based government action must demonstrate an "exceedingly persuasive justification" for that action. Virginia's categorical exclusion of women from the educational opportunities VMI provides denies equal protection to women. The remedy proffered by Virginia-maintain VMI as a male-only college and create VWIL as a separate program for women-does not cure the constitutional violation.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Ginsburg, joined by Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Breyer
Concurrence	Rehnquist (in judgment)
Dissent	Scalia
Thomas took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV

United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the long-standing male-only admission policy of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in a 7–1 decision. Justice Clarence Thomas, whose son was enrolled at the university at the time, recused himself.^[1]