Thirty years ago, a female high school student complained to the federal government that the Virginia Military Institute, known as VMI, didn't accept women. To be fair, nobody expected that many women would want to attend VMI. The institute's education system combined physical rigor and mental stress to create citizen soldiers. Training was extremely demanding physically and mentally, intended to take them to the brink of what they could handle.

VMI's sex-based admissions policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause as verbalized by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was writing for the majority. She found that VMI had failed to show ""exceedingly persuasive justification"". Justice Scalia made sure to provide Ginsburg with a copy of his dissent in order for her to better respond to it in her majority opinion.

Anastasia Boden and Elizabeth Slattery take on United States v. Virginia in this week's historical podcast on Dissed.

Thanks to our guests: Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center and AEI's Christopher Scalia.

Follow us on Twitter: @anastasia_esq@ehslattery @pacificlegal #DissedPod

About Pacific Legal Foundation:

Pacific Legal Foundation is a nonprofit legal organization that defends Americans’ liberties when threatened by government overreach and abuse. We sue the government when it violates Americans’ constitutional rights—and win!

Website: pacificlegal.org
Facebook: Facebook.com/PacificLegalFoundation
Twitter: @PacificLegal