Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil: Volokh on Solomon and Perspective

I spent a good bit of this weekend discussing various gender rights issues with a very charming young lady from a California law school, who was in town to attend the Lavender Law conference at Fordham.

As a result, the Solomon Amendment came up again, as it seems to be doing more and more frequently in the blogosphere, law schools, and the newspaper. The 'wisdom of Solomon' is certainly being called into question as never before.

Which is why I was happy Prof. Volokh linked to his old article on Solomon and perspective. I've remembered this one ever since I read it, on the basis of practicality alone:

Some boycotts are purely instrumental: They aim to make things costly for some entity, so that the entity changes its ways to avoid those costs. But surely this isn't the issue here. If the military changes its policy, it won't be because they're having a slightly harder time recruiting lawyers; the boycott just can't make that sort of practical difference. What's more, officers coming from (say) Yale Law School would likely be more tolerant of homosexuality than the average officer. As a purely practical matter, discouraging Yalies from joining the military may make the military slightly less gay-rights-friendly.
So, of, course the boycott isn't really about practical questions � it's about morality and symbolism.

Indeed, one would think if you wanted to change the military as a system, your best bet (if you're straight but sympathetic) would be to join JAG. Certainly military experience might teach some campaigners the wisdom of not ceding a field to one's enemies.

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Giving The Devil His Due

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Quoth Anthony: Indeed, one would think if you wanted to change the military as a system, your best bet (if you're straight but sympathetic) would be to join JAG. Your heart's in the right place, but as an ex-Navy JAG I have grave doubts that this is going to work. If you want to change the military as a system, your best bet is to get yourself elected to Congress, and once there to persuade enough other Congresscritters to change the laws to explicitly make it illegal for the military to discriminate against gays. Your next best bet might be to get yourself elected President (or become a very close and trusted advisor to someone else who gets elected President) and use the authority of the office of Commander in Chief of the Armed Services to force the military to stop discriminating (but good luck there, at least one President in recent memory couldn't get it done...). Problem is, JAGs don't make policy, they take orders and obey them. Basically, line officers view JAGs as an obstacle to getting done what they believe needs to be done. Most Generals and Admirals of my acquaintance (and I met a few in the Navy) would be very sympathetic to the quote attributed to J.P. Morgan: "Damn it, I don't hire a lawyer to tell me I can't do something. I hire him to tell me how to do what I want!"

Posted by: Len Cleavelin | October 20, 2003 4:39 PM

Hmm... the 'law and economics' response: Your odds of joining JAG and going up the heirarchy is much higher than that of you becoming a Congressman, or even a President. Now, for any one person, obviously you're better off trying for political office. But your odds of making the 'big win' are slight. On the other hand, as a member of the armed forces you do get to associate with other members of the armed forces and spread your view about. The argument that homosexuals in the military will be bad for unit cohesion or morale is less persuasive if there are voices in those forces saying, "Yes, we'd welcome them." As it is, the demographics of the armed forces are highly different from those of America as a whole, largely because many members of the left have ceded the field, wanting nothing to do with it. (This is, actually, similar to one reason universities are so liberal: how many conservatives, and here I include myself, would never consider a career in academia because they'd be tired of being the lone voice in the wilderness and might not want to live in Chicago?) We can't all be president, but big changes come from small contributions.

Posted by: A. Rickey | October 20, 2003 4:48 PM

Don't ask, Don't tell isnt about "unit cohesivnesS" it's about keeping sexuality out of the work place. If an officer (male) flirts with and hits on another (female) his ass is going to be in trouble. If a female fraternizes with a male, she's in just as much trouble.

Posted by: JP | March 26, 2005 4:40 PM

Volokh on Solomon and Perspective

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