The Supreme Court won't block the use of race in admissions to West Point for now

The Supreme Court refused to temporarily block on Friday race-conscious admissions to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, paving the way for the school to continue considering race as a factor in selecting the class that will enroll in the fall.

The court's order was denied a request for emergency assistance from Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative group that has repeatedly challenged affirmative action in college admissions as a lawsuit moves forward. It had asked the judges to act quickly because West Point would stop accepting applications on January 31.

The court's order stated that the record was “underdeveloped” and that the court's denial “should not be construed as reflecting any opinion on the merits of the constitutional issue,” indicating that the justices considered the issue in the might consider in the future. There were no identified dissenting opinions.

Students for Fair Admissions successfully challenged race-conscious admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina during the court's last term, effectively ending a policy that colleges across the country have relied on for decades to improve racial diversity to increase.

In June, in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the justices declared that the admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were illegal.

In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. limited in a footnote the scope of the decision by exempting military academies.

The court's decision did not extend to those institutions, which include West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy, because they have “potentially different interests,” he wrote.

Students for Fair Admissions founder Edward Blum appears to have tailored the challenge to that exemption.

Less than three months after the decision was announced, Students for Fair Admissions filed suit against West Point, claiming that the institution's admissions practices violated the Constitution.

Students for Fair Admissions argued that the government misinterpreted Chief Justice Roberts' footnote as an exception for military academies. “Far from an exception,” the group said in its petition for relief, the court's decision to restrict race-conscious admissions did not only target military academies because the Supreme Court “didn't know how they used race.”

Admission to the nation's oldest military academy violated the standard set in the Harvard case, “worse than Harvard itself,” the group argued.

It said West Point engaged in “unchecked racial discrimination,” granting racial preference to three groups of applicants: black, Hispanic and Native American applicants. The petition added that the school “uses race to determine which office reviews applications, how many early offers it makes, and what scores applicants must achieve.”

Students for Fair Admissions urged the court to act quickly because “every year this case languishes in discovery, trial or appeal, West Point will label and sort thousands more applicants based on the color of their skin.”

In an assignment for the governmentSolicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar said the current admissions process at West Point should remain in place, arguing that Students for Fair Admissions' request would force the academy to “jettison admissions procedures that the military has considered a military necessity for generations.” has considered.”

It described the Jan. 31 deadline as arbitrary because West Point had been reviewing applications since August and “had already made offers to hundreds of applicants,” which made up a substantial portion of the spots for the class of 2028.

Racial diversity among military leaders was vital to national security, the letter added.

“For more than 40 years, our nation's military leaders have determined that a diverse military officer corps is a national security necessity and that achieving that diversity requires a limited focus on race in selecting those who join the military as cadets at the United States Military Academy. at West Point,” Ms. Prelogar wrote.

“A lack of diversity in leadership can jeopardize the military's ability to win wars,” she added, citing how “decades of unaddressed internal racial tensions erupted during the Vietnam War.”

The Biden administration talked about military academies when it submitted a letter in support of Harvard and North Carolina last term. White service members account for 53 percent of the total active-duty force but 73 percent of officers, the administration said, noting that black service members, by contrast, make up 18 percent of the active-duty force but 8 percent of officers. About one in five officers comes from one of the military academies.

West point heralds diversity of its student organization on its website. The last enrolled class, which will graduate in 2027, has approximately 1,250 students. About 38 percent are racial minorities, including 127 African Americans, 137 Hispanic Americans, 170 Asian Americans and 18 Native Americans.

Anemona Hartocollis reporting contributed.