Affirmative Action: Perfectly Fine for West Point and Annapolis—but Not Harvard
The NationJul 04, 2023
The anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions has challenged the constitutionality of the US Naval Academy's race-based admissions policy, claiming that the sea service school "provides a racial benefit to some applicants but not to others."
The 28-page lawsuit, filed on Thursday in the Northern District Court of Maryland, lists as defendants the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, US Naval Academy Acting Superintendent Fred Kacher, and Naval Academy Dean of Admissions Bruce Latta.
Despite the blatant hypocrisy of the conservative justices who ruled against affirmative action in higher education institutions while carving out an exemption for military academies, it's a matter of fact that even they have acknowledged that racial diversity is positive for the country. Instead of extending the ban to military schools, America should take steps to restore a successful system.
Service academies have never been exempted from the ruling that ended affirmative action policies for higher education institutions, with the Supreme Court only refraining from addressing the issue without a fully developed record examining military-specific interests. That's why lawsuits have now been filed against West Point and the Naval Academy, as skin color doesn't mean a thing on the battlefield.
There's a 44% chance that over half of US states will forbid affirmative action before 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.