women from an institution, i was very much aware of that. and i was trying to fashion an argument that would penetrate that. mr. chief justice and may it please the court, educators are virtually united that many young men and young women significantly benefit from a single-sex education. the curiosity is you re defending single-sex education when virginia abandoned single-sex education in all schools but one. there are a number of women s only schools in virginia that chose themselves to go to coeducation because of the demands that occurred demands from whom? the trends that were away from single-sex education. i was dealing with a very worthy and formidable force at the other side of that bench. to clarify, you are defending vmi for all males and no public program for women. the effort is by virginia
gender characteristics or generalizations here, but for some young men at that time of their life they need discipline and vmi provided that. look at the men that stand before you. they represent the essence of vmi! a female high school student wanted to attend vmi, so she brought a case against virginia claiming that the all-male admissions policy violated equal protection. it actually went from the district court to the appellate court before it came up to the supreme court. this was an extremely important case for justice ginsburg. it was her first women s rights case on the supreme court. the honorable, the chief justice and the associate justices of the supreme court of the united states. k [ gavel ] i was very much aware of justice ginsburg s history with respect to gender, excluding
the effort by virginia is to promote diversity by creating opportunities for people of both sexes. that was my pitch. as you know, it didn t work. the opinion of the court in virginia against the united states will be announced by justice ginsburg. some women can meet the physical standards vmi imposes on men, are capable of all the activities required of vmi cadets, and would want to attend vmi if they had the chance. this opinion does mark as presumptively invalid a law that denies to women equal opportunity to aspire achieve, participate in and to contribute to society based on what they can do. the for men only tradition of
respect to gender, excluding women from an institution, i was very much aware of that. and i was trying to fashion an argument that would penetrate that. mr. chief justice and may it please the court, educators are virtually united that many young men and young women significantly benefit from a single sex education. the curiosity is you re defending single-sex education when virginia abandoned single-sex education in all schools but one. there are a number of women s only schools in virginia that chose themselves to go to co-education because of demands that occurred demands from whom? the trends that were away from single-sex education. i was dealing with a very worthy and formidable force at the other side of that bench. to clarify, you are defending vmi for all males and no public program for women?
vmi became history with the arrival of women arriving as first-year cadets. take your rest. i was in the first class of women. we were here not to break tradition, not to ruin history, but to help grow it. for those four years i worked extremely hard to be the best person i could be and to represent women as a whole. i wanted to be that person that stood in front of the men and said i can do it too. it s most appropriate that we welcome today a member of our nation s highest court, a notable example of a citizen with a lifelong dedication to public service, justice ruth bader ginsburg. welcome to the virginia military institute. vmi fought very hard to keep women out. i had an alumni walk up to me