Supreme Court asked to block West Point from considering race as admissions factor

The group behind the Supreme Court cases that gutted affirmative action in higher education is newly asking the justices to block race-conscious admissions policies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

In June, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling effectively barring the use of race in college admissions, but the decision did not apply to the nation’s military academies.

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), which brought last year’s cases, has since looked to demolish the exception, suing both West Point and the Naval Academy.

The group so far has been unsuccessful, leading it to bring the issue Friday before the Supreme Court on its emergency docket.

The SFFA is asking the justices to block West Point from using race in its admissions policies as the group’s lawsuit proceeds in a lower appeals court.

“Every year this case languishes in discovery, trial, or appeals, West Point will label and sort thousands more applicants based on their skin color—including the class of 2028, which West Point will start choosing in earnest once the application deadline closes on January 31,” SFFA lawyers wrote to the justices.

“Should these young Americans bear the burden of West Point’s unchecked racial discrimination? Or should West Point bear the burden of temporarily complying with the Constitution’s command of racial equality?” the application continued.

The group asked the justices to act on the request by the application deadline, which is Wednesday.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the court’s liberals, handles emergency requests arising from New York such as this one and ordered West Point to respond by 5 p.m. Tuesday, a rather quick timeline.

Sotomayor could then act on the SFFA’s request alone or refer it to the full court.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled for the SFFA and blocked race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. In its new request, the SFFA called West Point’s admissions practices “worse” than Harvard’s previous use of race.

But a federal judge declined to issue a preliminary ruling blocking West Point’s admissions policies earlier this month, finding that the SFFA was unlikely to prevail in the case.

The group, headed by conservative legal strategist Edward Blum, brought its lawsuit on behalf of two anonymous plaintiffs, who are described in court filings as white males who want to apply to West Point over the next few years.

The SFFA has asked the Supreme Court for an injunction pending appeal, a form of relief the justices only grant in rare cases.

“Though SFFA appreciates that injunctions are extraordinary, they are necessary when the government refuses to stop facially illegal, rapidly approaching, intentional discrimination,” the SFFA wrote in court filings.