Judge Keeps Naval Academy's Racial Preferences Policy

A federal judge on Friday allowed the US Naval Academy to keep considering applicants' race and ethnicity in its admission practices, calling the issue a matter of national security. In rejecting a challenge by a group opposed to affirmative action, US Senior District Judge Richard D. Bennett of Maryland made clear that the academy, given that it trains officers for the Navy, has a special interest in achieving diversity in its enrollment, the New York Times reports. Students for Fair Admissions had prevailed in similar challenges last year to Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But the group's effort to force a change at the Naval Academy, Bennett wrote, "has FAILED."

The organization said it will appeal. The case had been closely watched in light of the Supreme Court decision blocking the use of affirmative action at Harvard and UNC. That ruling exempted the military academies, including West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy. It still led to challenges of diversity initiatives at companies and government agencies, per the Washington Post, and certain other universities changed policies. "The US Naval Academy is distinct from a civilian university," Bennett wrote in a 175-page decision.

The government argued that national security depends on the academies' ability to develop officers who reflect the demographic composition of the troops and the nation's population overall, per the Times. The judge pointed to a 2024 Senate committee report saying underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in the military service academies remains a problem. "This is fundamentally a military personnel issue," Bennett said. (More US Naval Academy stories.)