West Point Affirmative Action Policy Can Continue During Appeal

The US Military Academy at West Point is still allowed to consider race ahead of its Jan. 31 application deadline during a challenge to the policy, a US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit panel said on Monday.

The judges followed a decision by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, which rejected a bid for a preliminary injunction earlier this month. Advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions appealed that ruling with a request for emergency injunction.

The group, which successfully attained a Supreme Court decision against affirmative action at public and private universities last year, had also been denied injunctions to bar West Point and the US Naval Academy from considering race in their admissions processes.

“Any alleged burden on the constitutional rights of [SFFA’s] members is far outweighed by the burden that would be created by an order from this court requiring West Point to apply a different admissions policy in the middle of its admissions cycle,” US Attorney Damian Williams said on behalf of West Point in a November filing opposing the preliminary injunction bid in district court.

The anti-affirmative action group also asked the Supreme Court last week to temporarily bar West Point from considering race in its admissions process ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline. The justices said in their June opinion that “potentially distinct interests” meant the ruling on civilian universities didn’t address the military academies.

The case is Students for Fair Admissions v. US Military Acad. at West Point, 2d Cir., No. 24-40, 1/29/24.