Harvard Law waives nondiscrimination pledge for military recruiters News
Harvard Law waives nondiscrimination pledge for military recruiters

[JURIST] Harvard Law School [official website] will open its career services office to military recruiters beginning this fall, despite the Pentagon's refusal to sign the school's nondiscrimination pledge, Dean Elena Kagan [official profile] said Tuesday in a letter [text] to the law school community. According to Kagan, the Pentagon notified the University it would withhold federal grants, from which Harvard receives more than $400 million per year, under the Solomon Amendment [text] if the school continued to bar the Pentagon from the office. The military has traditionally not been allowed to recruit within the law school because the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy [text] violates the school's nondiscrimination policy, but the Solomon Amendment allows the US Defense Secretary to block federal grants to "institutions of higher learning that prevent ROTC access or military recruiting on campus." The Pentagon announced last week [Federal Register notice] that New York Law School [official website] is also ineligible for federal funds because of the institution's prohibition on military recruitment on campus and a Pentagon spokeswoman has also named Vermont Law School [official website] and William Mitchell College of Law [official website] as being in violation of the amendment and potentially facing loss of federal funding.

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit suspended enforcement [opinion PDF] of the Solomon Amendment last year in a case brought by a group of law students and professors against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, stating it "requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objective," thus violating the school's rights to free speech. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case [Duke Law backgrounder] in May and oral arguments are scheduled for December. A group of over 40 Harvard faculty members announced Wednesday that they have filed an amicus brief [PDF text] in the case. The Harvard Crimson has more. Inside Higher Ed has additional coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.