Duarte : Women-in-Rotary Case

In a case involving the Duarte Rotary Club, attorney William P. Sutter, representing Rotary International, told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that state laws aimed at allowing women to join Rotary clubs violate the rights of all Rotarians.

Sutter said a California law barring the international group from ousting the Duarte chapter for admitting women as members unduly interferes with rights of Rotarians in all states to associate with whom they please. Sutter said the law violates First Amendment rights, which guarantee freedom of association.

But Judith Resnick, an attorney representing the Duarte chapter, said, “The message to women is that we’re second-class citizens, not part of the business community’s leadership.”

And Marian M. Johnston, deputy attorney general of California, urged the justices to let the state enforce its anti-discrimination law.

The Duarte club, which decided to accept women as members in 1977 because of dwindling membership, was expelled by Rotary International in 1978. The Duarte club filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court and was denied reinstatement. But a state appeal court last year reversed that decision, saying that Rotary clubs are business establishments subject to regulation under the state’s Unruh Act, which bans discrimination based on race, sex, religion or ethnic origin.

Rotary International appealed to the state Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case, and then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court. But the local club was reinstated pending the Supreme Court decision, and all other Rotary clubs in the state have the option of admitting women members. The court’s decision is expected by July.