Loyalty Oaths and such things

[Volokh, Eugene]

	I would think that while private universities have First
Amendment rights vis-a-vis the state and federal government, and while
state universities might have First Amendment rights vis-a-vis the
federal government, state universities would not have First Amendment
rights vis-a-vis the state government that created them and has the
power to run them.  (I'm pretty sure that there's a Supreme Court case
holding that cities lack constitutional rights vis-a-vis states, but I
forget the name.)  

	I can imagine contrary arguments, and I can imagine state
constitutional arguments in whatever states might have state
constitutional guarantees of independence for the university.  But that
seems the likeliest, and most likely correct, result.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu 
> [mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Randy Bezanson
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 6:43 AM
> To: conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
> Subject: Loyalty Oaths and such things
> 
> 
> 
> I'm late to this exchange, but let me ask whether anyone has 
> thought about 
> how the recent Solomon Amendment case might fit in here.  The 
> Circuit Court 
> decided, as I recall, that in discriminating against military 
> recruiters at 
> the law schools those law schools were exercising their free 
> speech rights 
> to express a collective view on the question of excluding 
> gays and lesbians 
> from the services (don't ask, don't tell), their expression 
> taking the form 
> of collective action.  This might mean that an educational 
> institution 
> might be able to "speak" a collective view (diversity, e.g.) 
> through tests 
> of belief or conduct applied to outsiders, students, or maybe faculty.
> 
> I'm not arguing for or against the point, but just observing 
> an implication 
> of the Boy Scouts (and other) case, and wondering whether it 
> complicates 
> analysis of the oath problem in Ohio and in the hypothetical settings 
> people have mentioned.
> 
> Randy Bezanson
> 
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