Supreme Court allows military academies to continue race-based admissions citing 'potentially distinct interests'

Chief Justice John Roberts.

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• The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in a 6-3 decision on Thursday.
• But the court exempted military academies from the decision, citing "potentially distinct interests."
• Justice Sotomayor noted the exemption in her dissent, arguing "highlights the arbitrariness" of the decision.

In a 6-3 decision issued on Thursday, the United States Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, preventing higher educational institutions from considering race in admissions decisions.

But there's one key exception: the nation's military academies.

In a footnote to the majority opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court made clear that the sweeping decision will not be applied to federally funded service academies — such as West Point and the Air Force Academy — noting that those institutions were not involved in the two cases brought before the Court, which targeted Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

"None of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context," reads the footnote on page 30 of the decision. "This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present."

The court also cited the amicus curae filed by the federal government in the case, which argued that affirmative action "further compelling interests at our Nation's military academies."

"The United States Armed Forces have long recognized that the Nation's military strength and readiness depend on a pipeline of officers who are both highly qualified and racially diverse — and who have been educated in diverse environments that prepare them to lead increasingly diverse forces," reads the amicus curae submitted by the federal government. "The United States thus has a vital interest in ensuring that the Nation's service academies and civilian universities retain the ability to achieve those educational benefits by considering race."

The government's argument, notably, argued that this dimension of affirmative action applied not just to the nation's federal military academies, but to military training that produces the majority of commissioned officers at public as well as private universities like Harvard, and whose administrations will now be barred from considering race in admissions decisions.

"The military also depends on the benefits of diversity at civilian universities, including Harvard, that host Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs and educate students who go on to become officers," the government argued.

Military exemption 'highlights the arbitrariness' of the decision, Sotomayor says

The conservative majority's exemption for service academies was noted in liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent on the decision, which argued that the exemption undermines the conservative majority's argument and "highlights the arbitrariness" of the decision.

"The majority does not dispute that some uses of race are constitutionally permissible," Sotomayor wrote. "Indeed, it agrees that a limited use of race is permissible in some college admissions programs."

She noted that "national security interests are also implicated at civilian universities" and pointed out that the court's decision will nonetheless apply to plenty of higher education institutions that weren't party to the case.

"The Court's carveout only highlights the arbitrariness of its decision and further proves that the Fourteenth Amendment does not categorically prohibit the use of race in college admissions," she wrote.

"The majority recognizes the compelling need for diversity in the military and the national security implications at stake," she later continued, "but it ends race-conscious college admissions at civilian universities implicating those interests anyway."

The service academies have long been a battleground for alumni and critics who argue that admissions favor minority applicants as the schools' leadership has implemented policies to make their cadres of cadets and midshipmen more representative of the forces they will lead after graduation. Officers continue to be more likely to be white than the enlisted troops they oversee, according to Defense Department statistics.

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