Court Backs Military Recruiting at Colleges

Ruling has implications for NCLB provision on access to high schoolers.

Congress is within its authority to require colleges to open their job fairs to military recruiters, even if campus nondiscrimination policies clash with federal law restricting gays in the military, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week.

The 8-0 decision upholds the Solomon Amendment, a measure Congress passed in 1994 and expanded several times that calls for withholding federal money from colleges and universities that do not give the U.S. military the same access to students they provide to other potential employers.

The case was being watched closely by groups opposed to military recruiting in high schools, because of a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that guarantees military recruiters access to schools. Schools could lose their federal Title I aid if...