The U.S. Naval Academy can give Black and Hispanic applicants an advantage in admissions without violating the Constitution, a federal court ruled Friday in a case exploring the limits of affirmative action.
The ruling comes a year after the Supreme Court struck down similar policies at major public and private universities, saying they violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection regardless of race.
But U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, in a lengthy ruling, said military academies should fall under special rules because of the nature of their national security mission.
“The program survives strict scrutiny because the Naval Academy has established a compelling national security interest in a diverse officer corps in the Navy and Marine Corps,” the judge wrote. “Quite simply, this Court defers to the executive branch with respect to military personnel decisions.”
Students for Fair Admissions, the group that successfully challenged Harvard University’s policy in the Supreme Court, brought the case against the Naval Academy, saying the principles of race neutrality should apply everywhere.
But the academy, during a two-week trial, argued that having a diverse officer corps is a “mission-critical national security interest.”
That, the judge said, was enough to overcome the Constitution’s otherwise sacrosanct Equal Protection Clause.
Affirmative action proponents hailed the ruling as proof that race-based policies are still allowed in some instances, even after last year’s high court ruling.
“Under justified circumstances the law … still does allow for the consideration of race to protect equal opportunity,” said Leah Watson, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Edward Blum, president of SFFA, said he’ll appeal the decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and then to the Supreme Court if necessary.
“It is our hope that the U.S. military academies ultimately will be compelled to follow the Supreme Court’s prohibition of race in college admissions,” he said.
The Harvard case was a watershed moment in affirmative action, an issue that has deeply divided the country for decades, particularly with race-based school admissions policies.
Over the years, the high court had narrowed what was allowed by outlawing quotas but allowing race to be used as a final determinant if candidates were essentially equal on other qualifications.
In the June 2023 ruling the justices, in a 6-3 decision, said the time had come to shut it down and force schools to forgo judging students by race.
But that ruling contained a footnote making clear it did not necessarily apply to the military academies.
“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,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote at the time.
Judge Bennett, appointed to the court in Maryland by President George W. Bush, filled in that gap with his ruling Friday.
He said the Navy has consistently concluded that having a diverse officer corps is not just “a lofty ideal” but a necessity to maintain a capable fighting force. He said it helps with unit cohesion, recruitment and retention of troops and international legitimacy.
Judge Bennett also said that because the military only promotes from within, the diversity has to be there at the start.
“At bottom, the Court, considering all evidence before it, finds that the military’s interest in growing and maintaining a highly qualified and diverse officer corps is informed by history and learned experience, and that a highly qualified and diverse officer corps remains critical for military effectiveness and thus for national security,” he wrote. “Plaintiff’s suggestion to the contrary contradicts decades of broad historical and military consensus.”
The judge ruled that the academy’s system does not amount to a quota, and he said it does not reduce race to a “stereotype.”
The academy admits about 1,000 students each year. In 2023 it graduated 64 Black officers and 124 Hispanic officers. Judge Bennett indicated that 33 of the Black officers and 21 Hispanic officers wouldn’t have made it without the race-based policies.
Judge Bennett did say that race-based policies “should not continue indefinitely.” But he did not impose an end point, saying it could take decades to see whether current admissions do produce more diversity in the future ranks of admirals.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.