NAME: Ismael Catovic
DATE: April 12, 2009
JUSTICE: Clarence Thomas
ٍ
TOPIC: Feeney v. U.S. Navy
SCHOOL: Noor-Ul-Iman School
TEACHER: Ms. Sarrah Buker
The Naval Academy has a gender-neutral policy that enables women to pursue their
careers in almost all naval fields excluding submarine missions and special assignments.
Lieutenant Hannah Feeney, a highly skilled naval officer, applied for the Submarine Officer
Basic Course training, and was denied based on her gender. After becoming aware of the reason
for her failure to be accepted into the program, LT Feeney sued the U.S. Navy. She claims that
the banning of her from a Naval position due to her gender is a violation of the Equal Protection
Clause as well as a violation of substantive due process of law. However, LT Feeney’s claims are
without foundation because the Navy rightly holds that this ban on women satisfies an important
government objective.
LT Feeney claims that disallowing her to join the submariner course training is a
violation of the Equal Protection Clause because the Navy denies her equal opportunity to pursue
what men are allowed to pursue. However, a state is constitutionally allowed to make genderbased classifications if it has “rational basis to a legitimate state purpose” (Legal Info Institute)
The Navy provided ample evidence supporting their view by saying that allowing women to join
submariners is a threat to national security. On other Naval vessels such as ships, there is open
space, and accommodations for women are not that hard to make. However, on a submarine that
needs to fulfill specific weight, height, and other quantitative requirements, making
accommodations for women would force the removal of operational equipment reducing warfighting effectiveness (RMC Topic Brief).
Producing co-ed submarines would be too costly to build and maintain. Not only would
the actual building requirements be extremely costly, but a submarine made to accommodate
women must have women to accommodate. Currently only one woman, LT Feeney, is applying
for submarine training, and for the Navy to make co-ed subs without women to work them is
nothing more than a waste of money. Simply because women have the qualifications to work on
a submarine does not mean that they will have the opportunity to do so. The Navy is supposed to
effectively protect the nation, and it would be unwise to allow women to join the submariners if
doing so will compromise national security.
Submariners are forced to work in close quarters for six months at a time in what is
equivalent to the living space of a medium sized house. This may seem reasonable, but
considering the fact that more than 100 people work on a submarine at a time, close encounters
are unavoidable. Considering the necessary and dangerous tasks that the submariners are
responsible anything that would add unnecessary stress to those naval officers must be avoided.
The threat posed by women working on submarines with men is no less real than the fact that
women are different than men. This difference alone may be enough to cause a devastating effect
on the crew. As such, disallowing women from joining the submariners is necessary to ensure
adequate security for the American people, and this legitimate and rational interest justifies the
Navy’s all-male policy.
LT Hannah Feeney claimed that the Navy’s disallowing of her to join the submariners
constitutes a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. However, since the Navy has a rational
reason to disallow women to join the submariners, the Navy’s actions were constitutional. The
Navy made a decision to protect the American people, and to do this, they believe that women
must not be allowed to join the submariners. This is a question of National Security, and when
dealing with such issues, it is constitutionally allowable to make classifications based on race or
gender if doing so is necessary to protect the United States of America.
Works Cited
"Equal protection | LII / Legal Information Institute." LII / Legal Information Institute. 12 Apr.
2009 <http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/equal_protection>.
Horwitz, Stephanie. "RMC Topic Brief." idia.net. 9 Apr. 2010
<idia.net/Files/ConferenceCommitteeTopicFiles/293/PDFFile/C09-SCFeeneyvUSNavy.pdf>.
Schlafly, Phyllis . "Women Don't Belong on Submarines -- Phyllis Schlafly August 30, 2000
column.." Eagle Forum - leading the pro-family movement since 1972. 12 Apr. 2009
<http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2000/aug00/00-08-30.shtml>.