Word: legalism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...while this accusation represents no legal breakthrough, several of the affidavits and citations filed to date reveal in more concrete terms how Schkolnick and her lawyers hope to force the Fly Club to admit women. The main document that lays out this legal argument is mostly a 29-page compilation of state and federal anti-discrimination precedents--but legal experts say the issues it raises will be around for a long time...
...while the circumstances surrounding the complaint's origins are clear, its current legal status is more ambiguous. Essentially, Baker has divided his legal argument into four major components, although it is impossible to tell which will be the most compelling until MCAD issues its decision...
Perhaps the most pressing legal issue is whether or not the Fly Club and the other eight clubs are public or private organizations. It is the lengthiest part of Baker's brief and the one which quotes the most extensively from precedent-setting cases...
...bear out this contention, the legal brief sets up several standards for determining if a membership club is public or private. These include: "The degree of selectiveness in membership requirements...the use of facilities by nonmembers...and the the performance of a public function." And even if the MCAD chooses not use Baker's framework, he insists that "No one factor is required, and many are absent in clubs which are nonetheless held to be places of public accommodation...
Schkolnick, who is now a first-year student at the Law School, says she thinks the numbers of non-members attending Fly Club parties could be a central facet of her legal case. "They [the club] are generally not very selective with who come to their parties," Schkolnick says...