HLS Professor of Law Janet Halley, an expert on military policy toward gays, said that the brief presented “an elegant legal theory.”

But the professors’ brief—unlike the one filed by HLS students on Monday—does not discuss FAIR’s First Amendment claims.

“We’re not weighing in on the constitutional issues,” Kagan said. “We’re providing something new to the discussion...It’s an extremely convincing and powerful argument.”

“By focusing attention on the overly-broad enforcement of the statute, [the brief] calls the court’s attention to a domain in which distinct constitutional violations become visible,” Halley said.

The brief comes nearly three months after 47 of the 81 HLS faculty members sent a letter to University President Lawrence H. Summers urging him to initiate or join litigation against the Pentagon’s stance.

But Summers told law professors in November that, while he personally opposes the Solomon Amendment, the University would not challenge the Pentagon in court.

Kagan said in September that HLS was not part of FAIR, which protects its members’ anonymity.

Five law schools including New York University’s have publicly identified themselves as FAIR members.

In November, U.S. District Court Judge John C. Lifland, a 1957 HLS graduate, denied FAIR’s motion for a temporary order suspending enforcement of the Pentagon’s recruitment policy. FAIR responded by appealing Lifland’s decision to the Third Circuit.

The HLS professors are not the only high-profile friends-of-the-court, or amici curiae, to back FAIR’s case.

A group of retired military officers filed a brief Monday arguing that the Pentagon has no legitimate interest in overriding universities’ recruitment policies.

Also on Monday, the 164-member Association of American Law Schools (AALS) filed a brief arguing that the Pentagon’s policy caused irreparable harm to schools’ nondiscrimination messages.

While HLS is an AALS member, Kagan said that she was not consulted in the decision to file the Monday brief.

FAIR founder Kent Greenfield, a Boston College law professor, told The Crimson yesterday that the HLS professors’ brief would bolster his group’s effort.

“There are few groups that would add such heft to our cause,” Greenfield said. “With such a strong group of amici, the Third Circuit will not be able to ignore the importance of this case.”

But Lambda secretary Holly S. Lewis, a second-year HLS student, said that the professors’ brief “seemed like a gesture.” “I hope this doesn’t substitute for their own lawsuit,” she said.

—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.