Naval Academy can continue factoring race into admissions — for now, judge rules

Dive Brief:

• A federal judge on Thursday allowed the U.S. Naval Academy to continue using race in its admissions decisions for now, rebuffing the anti-affirmative action group that successfully sued over other colleges’ race-conscious admissions policies.
• U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett denied Students for Fair Admissions’ request for a preliminary injunction against the Naval Academy. Bennett told SFFA representatives during a Thursday court hearing that they had not convinced him their case would succeed against the military institution, according to news reports.
• SFFA is arguing the Naval Academy’s policies are discriminatory, violating equal protection rights under the Fifth Amendment. It has brought a similar lawsuit against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Dive Insight:

SFFA helped orchestrate the downfall of race-conscious admissions policies at the U.S. Supreme Court in June. The group had challenged race-conscious practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, arguing they were prejudicial against certain racial groups.

The high court agreed, but specifically exempted military institutions.

In a footnote in the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote military academies may have “potentially distinct interests” from other institutions.

But that ban should extend to military academies, SFFA argued in its twin lawsuits against the Naval Academy and West Point. It sued West Point in September and the Naval Academy in October.

“By tethering its use of race to the racial demographics of the enlisted corps and the country as a whole, the Academy is violating equal protection,” SFFA wrote in its complaint against the Naval Academy.