{"id":4139,"date":"2023-07-03T11:35:08","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T16:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4139"},"modified":"2023-07-03T11:35:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T16:35:09","slug":"woke-pentagon-can-expect-challenges-to-race-based-admissions-policies-after-supreme-court-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4139","title":{"rendered":"Woke Pentagon Can Expect Challenges to Race-Based Admissions Policies After Supreme Court Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20772%20386'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-10.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-4140\" width=\"772\" height=\"386\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-10.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4140\" width=\"772\" height=\"386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-10.png 750w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-10-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-10-585x293.png 585w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-10-293x147.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-10-390x195.png 390w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Military academies will likely face legal challenges for their use of affirmative action following Thursday\u2019s landmark Supreme Court ruling that barred universities from considering an applicant\u2019s race in admission decisions, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 6-3 majority of Supreme Court justices in the Harvard and University of North Carolina vs. Students for Fair Admissions\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/06\/29\/supreme-court-blocks-affirmative-action\/\" target=\"_blank\">found<\/a>\u00a0that the way they\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/06\/25\/diversity-gop-military-pentagon-nominees\/\" target=\"_blank\">prioritized<\/a>\u00a0applicants of certain racial categories in admissions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/539\/306\/\" target=\"_blank\">overruling<\/a>\u00a0a prior decision that allowed universities to consider race. Justices\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/06\/29\/supreme-court-military-academies-race-based-admission\/\" target=\"_blank\">deferred<\/a>\u00a0weighing in on the ruling\u2019s significance for military academies, opening the door for likely successful Equal Protection lawsuits against the academies as the Department of Defense (DOD)\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/03\/22\/pentagon-dod-diversity-equity-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\">seeks<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/05\/08\/air-force-social-experiment-diversity-minority-discrimination\/\" target=\"_blank\">increase<\/a>\u00a0racial diversity among commissioning officers, legal and military experts told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAny DOD spin claiming that the Court has decided not to apply the ruling to the service academies, and therefore discriminatory practices at the service academies may continue, would be disingenuous at best and without credible support,\u201d Elaine Donnelly, founder and president of the Center for Military Readiness, told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the court did not consider any cases involving the military, opting instead to leave out the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=013858372769713515008:m9uq4uupsfm&amp;q=https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/11\/01\/eroding-morale-veterans-group-strikes-back-at-dod-over-race-based-admissions\/&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiTv7yXgun_AhVoD1kFHSPqDfsQFnoECAIQAg&amp;usg=AOvVaw3JZJBfohrpHKXwaqlBE_IA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">question<\/a>&nbsp;of racial preference in service academies\u2019 admissions decisions due to the \u201cpotentially distinct interests\u201d they might hold,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/22pdf\/20-1199_hgdj.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a>&nbsp;to the opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo military academy is a party to these cases, however, and none of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context,\u201d Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a footnote to the majority opinion. \u201cThis opinion also does not address the issue,\u201d he added, \u201cin light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Importantly, the Supreme Court did not affirm service academies\u2019 race-preferential admissions policies or say that the Equal Protection Clause does not apply to the military, experts told the DCNF. Rather, because the DOD was not included in the litigation, the court could not decide whether the military actually has distinct interests that meet the strict requirements for an exemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe question is not whether the Equal Protection Clause applies to admissions policies at the SAs (service academies), but how do the uniquely military interests involved influence the application of the [Equal Protection] Clause in that setting?\u201d retired law professor and Army Col. William Woodruff explained to the DCNF. \u201cConstitutional rights apply in the military.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thirty-five former Pentagon officers, including four former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/20\/20-1199\/232531\/20220801183329801_20-1199%20and%2021-707_Brief%20of%20Amici%20Curiae%20Former%20Military%20Leaders.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">submitted<\/a>&nbsp;a brief in support of the respondents, Harvard and UNC, anticipating the affect the case might have on military academies. They argued that taking race out of the admissions equation would \u201cimpede our military\u2019s ability to acquire essential entry level leadership attributes and training essential to cohesion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oral arguments also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/11\/01\/eroding-morale-veterans-group-strikes-back-at-dod-over-race-based-admissions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">touched<\/a>&nbsp;on the possibility national security interests might affect how the Equal Protection Clause should apply to service academies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf what you\u2019re asking me is whether we think the military has distinctive interests in this context, I would say yes,\u201d Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/10\/30\/supreme-court-harvard-unc-affirmative-action\/\" target=\"_blank\">told<\/a>\u00a0the court in October, a transcript\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/oral_arguments\/argument_transcripts\/2022\/21-707_m64n.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">shows<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s critically important for the Court in its decision in these cases to make clear that those interests are, I think, truly compelling with respect to the military.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Military Academy at West Point explored alternatives to race-based affirmative action, such as preferencing socioeconomic status, but found that would increase the number of white men at the academy, Prelogar explained.&nbsp;<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Other race-neutral alternatives failed to improve the racial diversity rate of admitted students.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roberts asked whether Prelogar sought to link the military academies to Harvard and UNC; \u201cIn other words, you rise and fall with their case?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prelogar did not give a definitive answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Justice Roberts\u2019 footnote, then, acknowledges the military could have distinct national security interests \u2014 but that was not a question before the court, and no body of evidence was developed in the case to prove either way the existence of unique national security interests, experts explained to the DCNF. The question will have to be answered at some other time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Court did not hint, or imply, approval of DOD\u2019s claim or of DOD\u2019s race-based practices,\u201d Scott McQuarrie, a West Point graduate and attorney, whose organization Veterans for Fairness and Merit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/20\/20-1199\/222848\/20220509154943084_Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Veterans%20for%20Fairness%20and%20Merit%20Supp%20Petitioner.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;in support of the plaintiffs, told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other words, the ruling does not, as Justice Sotomayor claims in her dissent, create a \u201ccarveout\u201d for the service academies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Future Of Race-Based Admissions At Military Academies<strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pentagon officials have long said they seek a total force that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/diversity.defense.gov\/Portals\/51\/Documents\/DoD%20DEIA%20Strategic%20Plan%20-%20FINAL.pdf?ver=3nYAnV3qlqR2y4wDPK1sUw%3d%3d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reflects<\/a>&nbsp;the demographics of the American public. Efforts to increase diversity have highlighted the officer corps, where the relative proportion of racial and ethnic minorities&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/02\/21\/air-force-promotions-race-equity-gender\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tends<\/a>&nbsp;to be smaller than among the enlisted ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over 75% of active duty officers are white,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/download.militaryonesource.mil\/12038\/MOS\/Reports\/2021-demographics-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">according<\/a>\u00a0to the latest DOD demographic data. \u201cBlack and African American\u201d individuals make up 19% of the enlisted active duty force, compared with 9% of officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To meet those goals, the military academies have practiced affirmative action in admissions for decades,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/01\/28\/us\/service-academies-defend-use-of-race-in-their-admissions-policies.html?pagewanted=all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a>&nbsp;to The New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe U.S. Naval Academy uses race and ethnicity as one of a multitude of factors to assess applications for admission,\u201d Cmdr. Alana Garas, a spokesperson for the academy, previously&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2022\/10\/26\/if-supreme-court-ends-affirmative-action-how-will-the-military-adapt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a>&nbsp;Military Times in October. It does not assign points for race or seek to fill quotas, Garas added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Col. Arthur W. Primas Jr., director of admissions for the U.S. Air Force Academy, told the outlet the academy also considers race in a \u201cholistic evaluation\u201d of candidates. \u201cRace, along with gender and ethnicity, is not used solely as the basis for appointment consideration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">West Point\u2019s website\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westpoint.edu\/about\/west-point-staff\/office-of-diversity\/equal-opportunity\" target=\"_blank\">confirms<\/a>\u00a0the institution is \u201ccommitted to affirmative action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Service academies may try to modify or reframe their existing guidance to prove their version of affirmative action is \u201cas bad\u201d as the practices of Harvard and UNC, Woodruff explained to the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn the current political climate, my guess is the SAs will continue to march under their current policies with, perhaps, a little tweaking to better shore up their chances in resisting efforts by Congress to impose merit-based admissions policies and to prepare for the inevitable lawsuits that will come challenging the use of racial preferences in the SAs,\u201d Woodruff told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DOD is \u201caware of the Supreme Court decision concerning affirmative action in college admissions,\u201d a Naval Academy spokesperson told the DCNF. \u201cWe are currently assessing the decision and its potential impacts on our practices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon would have to prove that to achieving greater officer diversity constitutes a national security imperative with sufficient weight to justify continued employment of race-based admissions, experts said. However, winning an exception in the court would be extremely difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRacial preferences are subject to strict scrutiny and it is very difficult to sustain racial discrimination when the policy is subjected to strict scrutiny,\u201d Woodruff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe government has dug itself into a bit of a hole,\u201d Mike Berry, director of military affairs and senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, told the DCNF, because it often tries to achieve contradictory objectives in the name of national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOn the one hand, it claims that diversity is a compelling national security (governmental) interest, thus race-based admissions are necessary to maintain diversity in the military. But on the other hand, it often argues in religious liberty cases that it cannot allow individual religious expression, such as the wearing of Sikh, Jewish, or Muslim articles of faith, because uniformity in the military is a compelling national security interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, the court applied the ruling to universities that\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/06\/01\/army-rotc-cadets-grade-recruiting-referrals\/\" target=\"_blank\">host<\/a>\u00a0Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs, which routinely commission officers into the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat is an implicit rejection of DOD\u2019s claim,\u201d McQuarrie told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe fact that [the court] did not even blink at the military justification for racial preferences in the ROTC context, which is the largest source of officers, is pretty telling that the Court will not just roll over in a future lawsuit challenging the SA racial preferences,\u201d Woodruff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, service academies could look for ways to hone in recruitment to target underrepresented groups, so more minorities apply to the academy, according to Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The best way to prevent service academies from discriminating on the basis of race when deciding who to admit is for Congress to\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/05\/11\/exclusive-divisive-and-racist-gop-rep-to-introduce-bill-aimed-at-defunding-the-militarys-diversity-efforts\/\" target=\"_blank\">step in<\/a>, Donnelly told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOfficials will try to maintain racial preferences as usual, until Congress intervenes or an affected plaintiff with standing files suit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGenerations of recent military experience have shown that warfighter teams have been successfully built on the selfless, colorblind culture (and mutual trust) that the Court\u2019s decision reminds us is a national imperative. \u2026 There\u2019s simply no excuse for compromising military leader quality, at any level, by diluting merit with identity-based preferences,\u201d McQuarrie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/americafirstreport.com\/woke-pentagon-can-expect-challenges-to-race-based-admissions-policies-after-supreme-court-ruling\/\">https:\/\/americafirstreport.com\/woke-pentagon-can-expect-challenges-to-race-based-admissions-policies-after-supreme-court-ruling\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Military academies will likely face legal challenges for their use of affirmative action following Thursday\u2019s landmark Supreme Court ruling that barred universities from considering an applicant\u2019s race in admission decisions, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. A 6-3 majority of Supreme Court justices in the Harvard and University of North Carolina vs. Students for Fair Admissions\u00a0found\u00a0that the way they\u00a0prioritized\u00a0applicants of certain racial categories in admissions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment,\u00a0overruling\u00a0a prior decision that allowed universities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-woke-agenda"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4141,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions\/4141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}