SUMMARIES OF PRINCIPAL LEGAL CASES

1.	Beller v. Middendorf, 632 F.2d 788 (9th Cir. 1980):  
Upholding pre-1982 DOD regulation against privacy 
challenge; no discussion of equal protection and no 
evidence presented by DOD.

2.	Dronenburg v. Zech, 741 F.2d 1388 (D.C. Cir. 1984):  
Upholding 1982 DOD regulation against equal protection 
challenge; decided prior to Palmore and Cleburne.

3.	Rich v. Secretary of the Army, 735 F.2d 1220 (10th 
Cir. 1984):  Upholding policy; no evidence presented by 
DOD; decided before Palmore/Cleburne.

4.	Palmore v. Sidoti, 466 U.S. 429 (1984):  Case 
invalidating denial of custody of a child to a white mother 
currently in an interracial marriage.  Court held that 
"[p]rivate biases may be outside the reach of the law, but 
the law cannot, directly or indirectly, give them effect".

5.	City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 
U.S. 432 (1985):  Case invalidating zoning board decision 
that discriminated against a group home for people with 
mental retardation.  Court required government to show 
with evidence that its discriminatory policy was rationally 
related to a legitimate government interest; "negative 
attitudes" and "irrational prejudice" of others could not be 
relied upon to justify discrimination.

6.	Watkins v. United States Army, 875 F.2d 699 (9th 
Cir. 1989):  Army equitably estopped from discharging 
openly gay sergeant who served with distinction for 14 
years.  Concurring opinion by Judge Norris found that 
military's policy unconstitutionally catered to prejudices of 
servicemembers who "despise" homosexuals.

7.	Woodward v. United States, 871 F.2d 1068 (Fed. Cir. 
1989):   Upholding DOD's policy on motion to dismiss; no 
evidence presented by the government; no analysis of 
Palmore or Cleburne.

8.	Ben-Shalom v. Marsh, 881 F.2d 454 (7th Cir. 1989):  
Upholding DOD's policy; no evidence presented by the 
government; no analysis of Palmore or Cleburne.

9.	Pruitt v. Cheney, 963 F.2d 1160 (9th Cir. 1992):  
Reversing grant of motion to dismiss an equal protection 
challenge to DOD's policy; requires government to show 
"on the record" that there is a legitimate and rational basis 
for the ban; questions authority of Beller, Dronenburg, Rich 
and Woodward in light of Supreme Court decisions in 
Palmore and Cleburne.

10.	Meinhold v. Cheney, 808 F. Supp. 1455 (C.D. Cal. 
1993):  Declaring policy unconstitutional; holding that, on 
the record, there is no rational and legitimate basis for 
military ban on gay people.


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Prepared by the Legal/Policy Department of the Campaign 
for Military Service.   2707 Massachussetts Ave, NW   
Washington, DC 20009.  (202) 265-6666.