In the case of United States v. Virginia, decided in 1996, the Supreme Court addressed the issue of gender discrimination in education. The case involved the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), which had a long-standing policy of admitting only male cadets. The federal government argued that this policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the United States, stating that VMI's male-only admissions policy was unconstitutional. The Court emphasized that the state must provide an "exceedingly persuasive justification" for gender discrimination, which VMI failed to do. This decision led to the admission of female cadets at VMI.