US Military Academies End Racial Preferences In Admissions

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point said that race is no longer a factor in their admissions processes—a policy shift that could move ongoing litigations closer to settlement.

In separate letters sent Friday to federal courts in Colorado and New York, the academies requested a 60-day pause in the lawsuits brought against them by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), arguing that the admissions policies in question are no longer in effect.

SFFA, which secured a landmark victory in the Supreme Court in 2023 that struck down race-based admissions at both public and private universities, filed lawsuits against the military academies shortly after the ruling. At the time, the court explicitly exempted the academies from the same constitutional standards applied to civilian institutions, with Chief Justice John Roberts acknowledging that they may have “potentially distinct interests” in maintaining a racially diverse officer corps.

The policy changes that prompted the request for a pause, the academies said, stem from directives issued by President Donald Trump, whose administration is committed to dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across all branches of the U.S. military as part a broader effort to refocus the military.

To implement the president’s vision for the military, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered his department to eliminate DEI initiatives and offices, including ceasing the practice of considering one’s race or sex when admitting cadets at military academies.

The U.S. Air Force Academy, based in Colorado Springs, stated in its letter that it has already ended race-based admissions practices following a series of White House and Pentagon directives. These include, most recently, a Feb. 6 memorandum issued by Acting Secretary of the Air Force Gwendolyn DeFilippi, who ordered the elimination of “quotas, objectives, and goals based on sex, race, or ethnicity for organizational composition, academic admission, career fields, or class composition.”

According to the Academy, the core constitutional question in the SFFA lawsuit is whether its prior policy violated the Fifth Amendment by allowing any consideration of race in admissions decisions. However, the service institution’s current admissions process “no longer permits any consideration of race, ethnicity, or sex.”

The Academy asked the court to stay the case for 60 days while it discusses with SFFA to determine whether the policy changes are sufficient grounds to resolve the case.

Similarly, West Point—located north of New York City—stated that it has taken all necessary steps to comply with the president’s orders and agency policy memoranda to ensure that race and ethnicity are no longer factors in admissions. The academy said it would use the 60-day period to continue talks with SFFA toward a possible settlement.

“At this time, the parties are continuing to discuss the details of West Point’s new policy and its effect on this litigation,” the school said in its own letter.

The development comes two weeks after the U.S. Naval Academy said it no longer considers race, ethnicity, or sex as a factor for admission, seeking to pause a lawsuit that was also brought by the SFFA. A federal judge ruled in December 2024 that the Annapolis-based academy could continue using racial preference in its admissions process.

Edward Blum, president of SFFA, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but has praised the Naval Academy’s decision.

“Students for Fair Admissions welcomes the announcement that the U.S. Naval Academy will end its unfair and illegal race-based admissions policies,” he said in a statement in March. “Racial discrimination is wrong and racial classifications have no place at our nation’s military academies.”