With a conservative majority on the bench, the recent Supreme Court ruling to strike down affirmative action was widely expected. One unexpected twist, however, was an inconspicuous footnote exempting military academies from the drastic change.
In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. briefly singled out military academies as the sole class of institutions allowed to maintain race-conscious admissions practices. This unexplained double standard illuminates the flaws in the court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. It may also doom more minority students to the discrimination that exists within the ranks of our nation’s military.
The military academies are among the elite schools that drive much of the affirmative action debate. The Army and naval academies, West Point and Annapolis, often rank in the top liberal arts colleges nationwide. All five federal service academies — also including the Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy — have acceptance rates under 17%, with some beating out institutions such as Cornell and Georgetown in selectivity.
