The professors’ brief argued that the school had been in compliance with the Solomon Amendment even prior to Harvard’s 2002 decision to waive its nondiscrimination policy for military recruiters. Before then, the Harvard Law School Veterans Association organized meetings between students and Pentagon officials, but the school’s Office of Career Services (OCS) played no part in the process.

The legislation passed last Saturday seems designed as a response to the Harvard professors’ January brief.

The brief noted that the original wording of the Solomon Amendment only barred funding to schools that “prohibit” or “in effect prevent” military recruitment on campus. The professors argued that the law did not require Harvard to actively assist recruitment by giving the Pentagon access to OCS resources.

But Professor of Law Janet Halley, who signed the brief, said at the rally Friday that the pre-2002 arrangement, even if permitted by the Solomon Amendment, was morally unjustifiable. She said Harvard’s practice of accommodating the military through the Veterans Association had reduced the school’s nondiscrimination policy to “transcendental nonsense.”

Under the new legislation, military recruiters can demand access to students “at least equal in quality and scope” to that which schools provide other employers.

Asked if the legislation will impact the FAIR suit, Bloomberg Professor of Law Martha L. Minow—who spearheaded the filing of the friend-of-the-court brief—said that Harvard faculty “are studying the effect of the recently adopted law and inquiring about the Defense Department’s interpretation of it, so...it is too early to answer.”

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