Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan - O'connor Rejects University's Arguments

Arguing its case, lawyers for the Mississippi University for Women asserted that its single-sex nursing school was a form of "affirmative action," or part of a program to rectify past discrimination by providing preferential treatment to women or minorities. The Court upheld the appeals court ruling favoring Hogan in a 5-4 decision. Justice O'Connor, the first female Supreme Court appointee, delivered the written opinion. In it, O'Connor rejected the school's argument that its policy was a form of affirmative action, noting that over 98 percent of all nursing degrees awarded in the United States were earned by women; there did not seem to be any obstacles to women in their pursuit of a nursing education. By restricting its program to women, O'Connor remarked, the Mississippi University for Women perpetuated the stereotype of nursing as "women's work." The school had also argued that allowing men into the program would negatively affect the quality of education for its female students, but this argument was also rejected on the grounds that the school already allowed men to sit in on classes.

Dissenting justices argued that the majority's reasoning was too rigid, and that single-sex educational opportunities were a historic and vital part of the American educational landscape. Hogan, they argued, brought his gender-discrimination case because he would have been inconvenienced to commute to another school. But legal analysts pointed out that it was unfair for the state to present obstacles or inconvenience to a man, just as it would have been for women to have had to face such hurdles.