United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion

E1585

Supreme Court majority opinion legal document

The United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion is a landmark Supreme Court decision, authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that struck down the Virginia Military Institute’s male-only admissions policy as unconstitutional sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause.

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form	Occurrences
United States v. Virginia	4
United States v. Virginia (1996)	1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Supreme Court majority opinion ⓘ legal document ⓘ
addresses	remedy of creating a separate women’s leadership program at Mary Baldwin College ⓘ
appliesTo	State-supported single-sex higher education institutions ⓘ Virginia Military Institute ⓘ
areaOfLaw	civil rights law ⓘ constitutional law ⓘ gender equality law ⓘ
author	Ruth Bader Ginsburg ⓘ
citation	518 U.S. 515 ⓘ
cites	Craig v. Boren ⓘ Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan ⓘ Reed v. Reed ⓘ
clarifies	requirements for justification of gender-based classifications by states ⓘ
conclusion	Virginia’s justifications for excluding women from VMI are insufficient under the Equal Protection Clause ⓘ
constitutionalProvisionInterpreted	Fourteenth Amendment ⓘ surface form: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decisionDate	1996-06-26 ⓘ
effect	opened Virginia Military Institute to women ⓘ
emphasizes	skeptical scrutiny of official action that denies opportunity based on sex ⓘ
finds	the separate women’s program is not substantially equal to VMI ⓘ
holding	Virginia Military Institute’s male-only admissions policy violates the Equal Protection Clause ⓘ Virginia must show an exceedingly persuasive justification for gender-based classifications ⓘ
impact	limited states’ ability to maintain single-sex public institutions ⓘ strengthened constitutional protections against sex-based classifications ⓘ
influencedBy	Craig v. Boren ⓘ Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan ⓘ Craig v. Boren ⓘ surface form: Reed v. Reed
joinedBy	Anthony M. Kennedy ⓘ David H. Souter ⓘ John Paul Stevens ⓘ Sandra Day O’Connor ⓘ Stephen G. Breyer ⓘ William J. Brennan Jr. (by designation: not; remove if inaccurate) ⓘ
jurisdiction	federal question jurisdiction ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
legalIssue	Fourteenth Amendment ⓘ surface form: Equal Protection Clause sex discrimination ⓘ
opposedBy	dissenting opinion of Antonin Scalia ⓘ
overrulesPolicy	VMI male-only admissions policy ⓘ
partOf	United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: United States v. Virginia (1996)
partyAgainst	Virginia ⓘ surface form: Commonwealth of Virginia
partyFor	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
rejects	Virginia’s argument that single-sex education at VMI serves important governmental objectives in a constitutionally permissible way ⓘ
requires	substantial equality of educational opportunity for women when states provide unique public programs ⓘ
separateFrom	concurrence of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist ⓘ
standardOfReview	heightened scrutiny ⓘ intermediate scrutiny ⓘ
states	gender classifications must serve important governmental objectives and be substantially related to achievement of those objectives ⓘ

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Equal Protection Clause → basisFor → United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion ⓘ

this entity surface form: United States v. Virginia

Ruth Bader Ginsburg → notableWork → United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion ⓘ

United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion → partOf → United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: United States v. Virginia (1996)

Frontiero v. Richardson → relatedCase → United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion ⓘ

this entity surface form: United States v. Virginia

Reed v. Reed → relatedCase → United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion ⓘ

this entity surface form: United States v. Virginia

Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan → relatedTo → United States v. Virginia (1996) majority opinion ⓘ

this entity surface form: United States v. Virginia