A new federal lawsuit accuses the U.S. Military Academy at West Point of improperly considering applicants’ race and ethnicity when making admissions decisions.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York by Students for Fair Admissions — the same group that successfully challenged affirmative action in higher education admissions in a landmark Supreme Court case that invalidated this practice in June.
In the lawsuit, Students for Fair Admissions claims that West Point set criteria regarding the number of Black, Hispanic and Asian cadets the institution should admit to each class.
The lawsuit also accuses the military academy of discrimination based on race and violating the principle of equal protection set forth in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
“Instead of admitting prospective cadets based on objective measures and leadership potential, West Point focuses on race,” the complaint states.
“In fact, he openly publishes his racial composition ‘goals,’ and his admissions director boasts that race is entirely determinative for hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants.
The group said West Point had “no justification for using race-based admissions.”
“These admissions are unconstitutional for all other public institutions of higher education,” the lawsuit claims, citing last summer’s successful Supreme Court case by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of Carolina North.
The June 2022 ruling did not cover West Point or other U.S. military academies, but could be used by legal scholars as precedent.
“Because West Point discriminates on the basis of race, its admissions policy should be declared illegal and prohibited,” the suit demands, also calling for a preliminary injunction barring the military academy from considering or knowing the race of an applicant when making admissions decisions.
“Over the years, the courts have been cognizant of the unique role of the military in the life of our country and the special considerations that arise from it. However, no level of deference justifies these polarizing and hated racial classifications and preferences in admissions to West Point or any of our military academies,” Edward Blum, president of the SFFA, said in a statement.
“Given that the recent opinion of the United States Supreme Court in the SFFA cases expressly prohibits all institutions of higher education from using race in admissions decisions, it follows that institutions of higher education “US military higher education must also end their race-based policies,” he added.
West Point says minority enrollment in its Class of 2027 is about 38%, including about 10% Black, 11% Hispanic, 14% Asian American and 1% Native American.
The lawsuit names the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other military and West Point officials as defendants.
The academy said in a statement that it “does not comment on ongoing investigations in order to protect the integrity of its findings for all parties involved.”
New York Post
