WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Supreme Court is allowing West Point to continue taking race into account in admissions, while a lawsuit over its policies continues.
The justices on Friday rejected an emergency appeal seeking to force a change in the admissions process at West Point. The order, issued without any noted dissents, comes as the military academy is making decisions on whom to admit for its next entering class, the Class of 2028.
The military academy had been explicitly left out of the court鈥檚 decision in June that almost everywhere in college admissions.
The court鈥檚 conservative majority said race-conscious admissions plans violate the U.S. Constitution, in cases from and the , the nation鈥檚 oldest private and public colleges, respectively. But the high court made clear that its decision did not cover West Point and the nation鈥檚 other service academies, raising the possibility that national security interests could affect the legal analysis.
In their brief unsigned order Friday, the justices cautioned against reading too much into it, noting 鈥渢his order should not be construed as expressing any view on the merits of the constitutional question.鈥
Students for Fair Admissions, the group behind the Harvard and North Carolina cases, in September. It filed a similar suit against the U.S. Naval Academy in October.
Lower courts had declined to block the admissions policies at both schools while the lawsuits are ongoing. Only the West Point ruling has been appealed to the Supreme Court.
鈥淓very day that passes between now and then is one where West Point, employing an illegal race-based admissions process, can end another applicant鈥檚 dream of joining the Long Gray Line,鈥 lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions wrote in a court filing.
West Point graduates account make up about 20% of all Army officers and nearly half the Army鈥檚 current four-star generals, the Justice Department wrote in its brief asking the court to leave the school鈥檚 current policies in place.
In recent years, , located on the west bank of the Hudson River about 40 miles (about 65 kilometers) north of New York City, has taken steps to diversify its ranks by increasing outreach to metropolitan areas including New York, Atlanta and Detroit.
鈥淔or more than forty years, our Nation鈥檚 military leaders have determined that a diverse Army officer corps is a national-security imperative and that achieving that diversity requires limited consideration of race in selecting those who join the Army as cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point,鈥 wrote Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration鈥檚 top Supreme Court lawyer.
