In the case of Zell Miller, et al. v. Davida Johnson et al., 1994, the U.S Supreme Court examined whether Georgia's state-funded scholarship program violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment due to its gender-based admissions policy. The program in question was established at a women-only college and aimed to promote education among women in fields where they were underrepresented. However, it excluded men from applying for scholarships which led to a lawsuit claiming discrimination based on sex. The court ruled that although states have substantial leeway when addressing gender imbalance in certain fields of study or work, this does not justify blanket exclusions based on sex alone as it violates equal protection rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Therefore, while acknowledging Georgia’s interest in rectifying past discrimination against women and encouraging their participation in specific areas of academia and professional life where they are underrepresented is legitimate; excluding males entirely from receiving scholarships was deemed unconstitutional.

In the dissenting opinion for Zell Miller, et al. v. Davida Johnson et al., Justice Scalia argued that the majority's decision was inconsistent with previous rulings and misinterpreted Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. He contended that there was no evidence to suggest Congress intended to prohibit single-sex public education when it passed Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs or activities. Furthermore, he asserted that Georgia’s policy did not discriminate on basis of gender as both men and women had access to unique educational benefits – men at North Georgia College (a military school) and women at Mary Baldwin College through Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership program. Thus, according to him, this case should have been evaluated under rational-basis scrutiny rather than intermediate scrutiny because there is no proof showing a discriminatory intent behind these policies.