Cite as: 530 U. S. 640 (2000)
Stevens, J., dissenting
firms,11 and labor organizations.12 In fact, until today, we have never once found a claimed right to associate in the selection of members to prevail in the face of a State's anti-discrimination law. To the contrary, we have squarely held that a State's antidiscrimination law does not violate a group's right to associate simply because the law conflicts with that group's exclusionary membership policy.
In Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U. S. 609 (1984), we addressed just such a conflict. The Jaycees was a nonprofit membership organization " 'designed to inculcate in the individual membership . . . a spirit of genuine Americanism and civic interest, and . . . to provide . . . an avenue for intelligent participation by young men in the affairs of their community.' " Id., at 612-613. The organization was divided into local chapters, described as " 'young men's organization[s],' " in which regular membership was restricted to males between the ages of 18 and 35. Id., at 613. But Minnesota's Human Rights Act, which applied to the Jaycees, made it unlawful to " 'deny any person the full and equal
tutions. But it does not follow that the practice of excluding racial minorities from such institutions is also protected by the same principle" (citation omitted)).
11 Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U. S. 69, 78 (1984) ("[R]espondent argues that application of Title VII in this case would infringe constitutional rights of . . . association. Although we have recognized that the activities of lawyers may make a 'distinctive contribution . . . to the ideas and beliefs of our society,' respondent has not shown how its ability to fulfill such a function would be inhibited by a requirement that it consider petitioner for partnership on her merits. Moreover, as we have held in another context, '[i]nvidious private discrimination may be characterized as a form of exercising freedom of association protected by the First Amendment, but it has never been accorded affirmative constitutional protections' " (citations omitted)).
12 Railway Mail Assn. v. Corsi, 326 U. S. 88, 93-94 (1945) ("Appellant first contends that [the law prohibiting racial discrimination by labor organizations] interfere[s] with its right of selection to membership . . . . We see no constitutional basis for the contention that a state cannot protect workers from exclusion solely on the basis of race").
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