Students' Group That Won SCOTUS Case Against Harvard Files Suit Against US Naval Academy Over Race-Based Admissions
A legal group fighting against affirmative action sued the U.S. Naval Academy on Thursday over its purported consideration of an applicant’s race in admissions decisions.
Students for Fair Admissions won a Supreme Court case against Harvard and the University of North Carolina determining that so-called affirmative action at public universities violated civil rights laws by preferencing minorities.
The decision did not cover military academies, but SFA argues that the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, has “no justification for using race-based admissions” since the practice was ruled unconstitutional elsewhere.
“America’s enemies do not fight differently based on the race of the commanding officer opposing them,” SFFA said in the lawsuit. “Sailors must follow orders without regard to the skin color of those giving them and battlefield realities apply equally to all sailors regardless of race, ethnicity or national origin.”
Supreme Court justices did not apply the June decision to service academies on the grounds that they may have a national security reason for considering race in admissions. SFA’s lawsuit will put the Naval Academy to the test, forcing it to argue for an exception.
SFA similarly sued the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which commissions Army officers, in September.
SFA’s argument is that the Naval Academy is violating the Fifth Amendment, which “binds the entire federal government” on an equal protection principle as strongly as the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause binds states. SFA won the Supreme Court case overturning affirmative action on the Equal Protection Clause.
The Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, Naval Acadmemy dean of admissions Bruce Latta and Naval Acadmemy superintendent retired Rear Adm. Fred Kacher are listed as defendants in the case.
Fewer than 10 percent of Naval Academy applicants receive admission. The academy claims to use a “holistic” set of criteria in evaluating applicants, including race, the complaint stated, citing testimony, official documents and news reports.
For example, in 2020 the Navy called for de-emphasizing the use of standardized testing in favor of a “whole person” evaluation framework with the explicit aim to improve “minority representation in underrepresented ratings to reflect relevant national demographic percentages.”
Vice Adm. Sean Buck, who left his post as Naval Acadmemy superintendent in 2023, has denied that the academy engineers classes to reach a certain demographic profile. “We do not have race-based composition goals at the Naval Academy,” he told Congress in July.
The Naval Academy declined to comment, citing a policy against discussing pending litigation.
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