Why West Point May Get to Keep Affirmative Action: Noah Feldman

It’s rare for a lawsuit to be invited by the Supreme Court. But that’s the background to the case brought by Students for Fair Admissions against the US Military Academy at West Point over the school’s pursuit of racial diversity.

In last June’s decision on affirmative action in university admissions, Chief Justice John Roberts included a footnote specifically excluding the service academies from the ruling due to the “potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.” Roberts was alluding to the argument made by the Department of Justice (and by a group of retired military officers in an important 2003 ...