Decide says Naval Academy can think about race in admissions

The U.S. Naval Academy can proceed to contemplate race when evaluating candidates to the elite army greater training establishment, a federal decide dominated Friday.

The choice comes within the wake of final yr’s historic Supreme Court docket ruling, which barred civilian faculties from utilizing affirmative motion in admissions. The justices had exempted army establishments from the rule, however that call was shortly challenged simply 4 months later by College students for Truthful Admissions—the identical advocacy group that filed the unique lawsuits towards Harvard College and the College of North Carolina. 

Senior District Decide Richard D. Bennett struck down SFFA’s argument, saying that making certain the event of a various officer corps is necessary to nationwide safety.

In the 179-page ruling, Bennett, who served over 20 years within the U.S. Military Reserve and Maryland Nationwide Guard, defined that the academy’s affirmative motion program was narrowly tailor-made to rectify a “important deficiency” within the variety of individuals of shade who’re Navy and Marine officers. About 52 p.c of enlisted Naval service members are racial minorities, however minority officers solely represent 31 p.c of the corps.

“The U.S. Naval Academy as a army academy was particularly exempted by the U.S. Supreme Court docket within the Harvard opinion,” Bennett wrote. “The file on this case demonstrates the knowledge of that warning.”

For now, the court docket’s determination represents a victory for Democrats and the outgoing Biden administration, which defended the academy’s admissions coverage. Edward Blum, founding father of SFFA, stated in a press release that the group plans to enchantment to the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Republican president-elect Donald Trump, who has beforehand supported lawsuits difficult affirmative motion, might also select to not proceed the admissions coverage, which might render any enchantment moot. 

“As famous by Justice Kavanaugh,” Bennett wrote, “‘The President of the US, not [this] federal decide’ in the end makes such selections.”