United States v. Virginia (VMI)

United States v. Virginia (VMI), 518 U.S. 515 (1996), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

The Virginia Military Institute, a public institution, had an all-male admissions policy. The United States sued, arguing that excluding women violated the Equal Protection Clause. Virginia proposed a parallel program for women at Mary Baldwin College (the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership).

Significance

Justice Ginsburg’s 7-1 opinion struck down VMI’s male-only admissions policy and found that the proposed women’s program was not comparable. The Court held that gender classifications must be supported by ‘an exceedingly persuasive justification’ and must serve important governmental objectives through means substantially related to those objectives. Virginia had failed to provide such a justification. The decision set a high bar for gender-based classifications and led to VMI admitting women for the first time in its 157-year history.

Category

US Federal Case Law