Kay Bailey Hutchison: “As you know, in that case the Supreme Court struck down the state-supported VMI because the state of Virginia failed to…”

“As you know, in that case the Supreme Court struck down the state-supported VMI because the state of Virginia failed to, quote ``provide any comparable single-gender women's instituion.'' My amendment follows the Supreme Court's own language and requires that programs offer ``comparable'' opportunities for both sexes. I should also highlight that while the VMI case is certainly in keeping with my amendment, it was a case about higher education, which clearly involves different considerations with regard to the different needs of male and female students than elementary and secondary education. The only major case in which the Supreme Court directly dealt with the Equal Protection Clause as applied to K-12 education was in Vorchiemer, which involved a challenge to an all-girls academy in Philadelphia. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld a Third Circuit ruling that this single-gender public school did not violate Title IX or the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause. The court in that case explicitly held that there are legitimate differences between boys and girls that can justify separate educational programs in order to provide the best education possible. I appreciated the questions that were raised about this amendment, and I sincerely wish to engage them to see how we might best address their concerns.”