Court Exempts Military Academies From Higher Ed Race Ruling

The Supreme Court ruled race cannot be a factor in college admissions, but the ruling adds it will not apply to the U.S. military academies.

Those can still discriminate based on race under Affirmative Action, as requested by the Biden administration in an amicus curiae (an advisement on part of the U.S. government) to the case.

"The United States as amicus curiae contends that race-based admissions programs further compelling interests at our nation's military academies," read a footnote in the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts and released Thursday.

"No military academy is a party to these cases, however, and none of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context. This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present."

Liberal justices seized on the carve-out in their minority opinions.

Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called it out in the conclusion of her dissent.

"The Court has come to rest on the bottom-line conclusion that racial diversity in higher education is only worth potentially preserving insofar as it might be needed to prepare Black Americans and other underrepresented minorities for success in the bunker, not the boardroom (a particularly awkward place to land, in light of the history the majority opts to ignore)," she wrote.

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor also dissented, mentioning the exemption for military academies.

"To the extent the Court suggests national security interests are 'distinct,' those interests cannot explain the Court's narrow exemption, as national security interests are also implicated at civilian universities," Sotomayor wrote.

"The Court also attempts to justify its carve-out based on the fact that 'no military academy is a party to these cases.'

"Yet the same can be said of many other institutions that are not parties here, including the religious universities supporting respondents, which the Court does not similarly exempt from its sweeping opinion."

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