Justices Asked to Stop West Point from Using Race in Admissions

The same group that successfully fought to effectively end affirmative action at public and private universities last year is now asking the Supreme Court to step in and temporarily stop the US Military Academy at West Point from using race as a factor in its admissions decisions.

Student for Fair Admissions Inc. asked the court in an emergency request filed Friday to issue a preliminary injunction by Jan. 31, which is when West Point stops accepting applicants and starts choosing the students it’ll admit to its incoming class.

The justices ruled in June that admission programs using race at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause. In a footnote in his 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts said the opinion didn’t address military academies “in light of the potentially distinct interests” they may present.

Students for Fair Admissions sued West Point in September on behalf of two of its members — a high school senior applying to the school for the first time and a college freshman applying for the second time—both of whom are White.

The group argues West Point is blatantly violating the court’s June ruling. It says no legal principle exempts West Point from that decision. The trial court denied the group’s request to temporarily stop the school for using race while its lawsuit plays out, a decision it appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The appeals court has yet to issue a decision even though the group said it’s been 14 days since that request was fully briefed.

“That long delay, West Point’s rapidly approaching deadline, the need to protect SFFA’s members, and the need to give this Court time to rule are ‘extraordinary circumstances’ that require SFFA to file this application now,” the group said in the filing.

The case is Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. United States Military Academy at West Point, U.S., No. 23A696.