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I. INTRODUCTION
Every April, Augusta National Golf Club hosts the year's first major golf tournament. At the end of the contest, called the Masters, the Club awards the winner a green jacket, perhaps one of the most revered symbols in all of sports.1 Reportedly, the night after Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters, his father "looked in on his son and found him curled up in bed, asleep with a smile on his face, his arms wrapped around his green jacket."2 Winning at Augusta National Golf Club has such an effect.
The Club is perhaps the most venerated place in all of golf. Founded in the early 1930s, it has long been a haven for the wealthiest Americans to retreat from the public eye and enjoy themselves.3 Its members are among the wealthiest and most powerful men in American industrial, legal, business, and political life.4 The only blemish on the history of Augusta National has been its persistent practice of discrimination. Only in 1990 did the Club invite its first African-American member to join,5 and it has yet to accept a female into its membership. While Augusta National succumbed to public pressure and invited an African-American to join, it vehemently insists it cannot be forced to admit a female member.6
The Club's position is very unfortunate for those who strive for gender equality in America. While the American golf course has traditionally been a place where legal and business professionals network with one another and bond, it has also consistently been the site of gender discrimination.7 As a result, women are often placed at a disadvantage when they compete for promotions with men who have the opportunity to play golf with their boss.8 If Augusta National would open its doors to women, it is unquestionable that such an event would represent a giant step forward in the effort to eradicate misogyny from the game of golf and thereby equalize the abilities of men and women to use the game as a tool to advance their careers.9
Augusta National believes that it is completely immune to external legal pressure to admit a female member.10 This assumption, however, may be debatable given a review of the Supreme Court's treatment of the First Amendment's freedom of association....