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Bd. of Dirs. of Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte - 481 U.S. 537, 107 S. Ct. 1940 (1987)

Rule:

The First Amendment protects those relationships, including family relationships, that presuppose deep attachments and commitments to the necessarily few other individuals with whom one shares not only a special community of thoughts, experiences, and beliefs but also distinctively personal aspects of one's life.

Facts:

Rotary International is a nonprofit corporation composed of local Rotary Clubs. Its purposes are to provide humanitarian service, to encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to help build world peace and good will. Individuals are admitted to local club membership according to a "classification system" based on business, professional, and institutional activity in the community. Although women are permitted to attend meetings, give speeches, receive awards, and form auxiliary organizations, the Rotary constitution excludes women from membership. Because it had admitted women to active membership, the Duarte, California, Rotary Club's membership in the international organization was terminated. That club and two of its women members filed a suit alleging that the termination violated California's Unruh Act (Act), which entitles all persons, regardless of sex, to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, and services in all business establishments in the State. The state trial court entered judgment for Rotary International, concluding that neither it nor the Duarte Club is a "business establishment" within the meaning of the Act. However, the State Court of Appeal reversed on this point, and rejected the contention that Rotary's policy of excluding women is protected by the First Amendment. Accordingly, the court ordered the Duarte Club's reinstatement, and enjoined the enforcement of the gender requirements against it.

Issue:

Did the Act violate First Amendment by requiring all-male nonprofit club to admit women to membership?

Answer:

No.

Conclusion:

The Court held that the California civil rights statute did not violate the First Amendment when it required California Rotary Clubs to admit women to membership, in that the application of the statute to these clubs did not interfere unduly with the members' freedom of private association, where the relationship among Rotary Club members was not the kind of intimate or private relation that warranted constitutional protection, and did not violate the right of expressive association afforded by the First Amendment, where the evidence failed to demonstrate that admitting women to Rotary Clubs would affect in any significant way the existing members' ability to carry out their various purposes. The contentions that the statute is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad were not properly presented to the state courts and would therefore not be reviewed by the Supreme Court.

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