The New York Athletic Club was, for most of its history, a men’s club with the purpose to "promote manly sports." A New York City law was passed in 1984 requiring "the admission of women to large, private clubs that play an important role in business and professional life." The NYAC was among a number of clubs that challenged the law as a violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the right to freedom of association. The case made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court where, in June, 1988 the United States Supreme Court. held that the various clubs who had brought the suit were too dissimilar for the court to decide the case and remanded the case back to the District Court (this has sometimes been incorrectly reported as upholding the ban). Facing the high litigation costs of starting the case over on its own, the NYAC changed its by-laws and voluntarily admitted some female members in 1989.