Because the University is the directly injured party, student plaintiffs would have to prove they have legal standing to make a claim, and Fried said he thinks such a case would be thrown out.

Harrison said that in the case of a first amendment challenge, students have discussed claiming standing by arguing their constitutional rights are being violated because they will be compelled to associate with the military and its policy.

If the students were to bring a discrimination action against “don’t ask, don’t tell” and JAG, Harrison said they could simply go to the scheduled interview sessions and be rejected after stating their sexual orientation.

Bagenstos said he thought such an argument for student standing “would be difficult” but added that he hadn’t considered the question of anyone but Harvard bringing suit.

Harrison said that because of the standing problem, students have also proposed suing Harvard for breach of contract, arguing that the Law School has an obligation to provide a non-discriminatory environment.

But Fried said a contractual argument against Harvard would be “far-fetched.”

“It has an obligation to provide a lawful environment, and obeying the laws of the United States can’t be unlawful,” he said.

“Under a variety of legal doctrines, if what people in the Law School really want to object to is the government’s policy, it will be hard for them to win a lawsuit in which they’re suing Harvard rather than suing the government,” said Professor of Law Richard Fallon.

But Harrison said that regardless of the legal success of suits against Harvard or the government, the students also hope to influence public sentiment.

“We’d be bringing the lawsuit to win, but there’d be collateral effects such as raising awareness of the military’s policy,” she said.

Although neither Lambda as an organization nor the individual students have decided whether they will actually bring suit, they have planned a number of other protest measures.

Lambda will stage a student and faculty protest in the Law School’s Pound building on the first week of October, when the military’s first school-coordinated interview at Harvard will take place.

Lambda President Adam Teicholz, a second-year law student, said he hopes it will include former members of the military who were discharged because of their sexual orientation. Next week, the group will begin a poster campaign around the Law School campus and the Yard, showcasing pictures of gays who were forced to leave the military.

In addition, a number of law school students—including Harrison—plan to sign up for all the scheduled interview slots, forcing the JAG recruiters to discuss the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy instead of the perks of military service.

“We feel that because the military so aggressively pushed its way on campus, the best way to send a message that those tactics can’t work is to make the interviewers sit down one on one and hear our stories,” Teicholz said.