Court to Release Tape
of Gay Policy Debate
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, December 3, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme
Court will hear arguments Tuesday on the Pentagon's ''don't ask, don't tell''
policy toward gays, then immediately release audio tapes of the proceeding.
The court has made same-day releases of audio tapes in some major cases since
December 2000, when justices heard Florida ballot recount appeals that
determined the outcome of the presidential election. On Wednesday, the
same-day release of audio tapes for a case involving abortion rights marked the
first time Chief Justice John Roberts allowed the practice.
Television cameras are barred from the court and reporters are not allowed to
use tape recorders. But arguments are taped by the court and usually
released at the end of the term.
The case to be argued Tuesday, deciding the constitutionality of the Solomon
Amendment, deals with whether federal funds can be withheld from colleges that
close their campuses to military recruiters in a protest of the current military
policy toward gays.
The case is Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights,
04-1152.
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