conflict with the constitution, the constitution must prevail. vmi was a 150-year-old all-male military college. it had a tremendous endowment, well-connected alumni, four star generals. when you came out of vmi, that was something. the virginia military institute was the last all-male state-supported school in the country. 157 years of school tradition as an all-male military academy. boys can be troublesome, full of hormones and so forth. i don t mean to make general gender characteristics or
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 all men policy became
history with the arrival of the first female cadets. 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. it wasn t just about vmi. it was about the notion that you cannot exclude women just because they re women. you cannot say categorically
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. i was very much aware of justice ginsburg s history with respect to gender, excluding
they can t handle this. it s way beyond vmi. way beyond. and she pulled some of the justices of that court over to see that you start, you start with an assumption that you have got to treat both genders equally. (burke) parking splat. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we ve seen a thing or two. we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum free free free. free free.