United States v. Virginia (supreme court case)

United States v. Virginia (1996) was a landmark Supreme Court case addressing gender discrimination in education. The Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a state-run military school, exclusively admitted men. The Court ruled that this policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on sex. The decision emphasized that VMI's exclusion of women was unjustified and that states must provide equal opportunities in educational programs. This case reinforced the principle that government institutions cannot discriminate based on gender, promoting greater equality in educational access across the United States.