Nathan Newman thinks the US Government should win its case saying that schools accepting any federal funds must allow military recruiting on their campuses, even if the schools have an anti-discrimination policy that would otherwise bar the military for its proud discrimination against women and Teh Gays.

I'm not actually sure I have an opinion on that case, though I have obvious concerns about the government imposing its positions on schools with tax dollars. (The people who say that those lefty pinko commie schools can either welcome the military or give the money back are obviously not thinking of some future day when a progressive, pro-gay administration starts telling a bunch of southern public universities to stop advocating against gay people or give the money back.)

But what Nathan says here is spot-on.

I appreciate Marc Cooper praising me for my post on why law schools should lose their case on military recruitment.

But I think he misses the politics of why I'm glad the military will be on campus each year. Instead of the administration quietly keeping them away, the military will be there every year-- forcing students to organize protests and, yes, even jeer them to highlight the problems with the military's anti-gay policies.

Marc thinks students jeering Ann Coulter violates free speech. But "free speech" is not about those with power getting uncontested control of the podium. If the government forces the military to have the equivalent of a podium at law schools, it's free speech for those who oppose their presence to have a chance to make that opposition known, and not just in polite little signs or meek little questions.

It should be obvious that "free speech" is not keeping everyone away from Ann Coulter so she can lie in peace and with impunity, but yet it needed to be said. Go, read the whole thing.