Naval Academy Can Use Race In Admissions Policy, Judge Rules: Report

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A federal judge has ruled the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis can continue considering race as a factor in its admissions policies, according to a Washington Post report.

The case was brought before a federal judge in Baltimore by Students for Fair Admissions. In his ruling this week, Senior District Judge Richard D. Bennett said the academy had proved that a diverse officer corps is critical to national security and that the academy is vital to achieving that goal, the Post reported.

The decision came nearly 18 months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended race-conscious affirmative action policies used for decades by some Maryland colleges and universities to increase diversity on their campuses.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court held that race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, effectively eliminating the ability of colleges and universities to use affirmative action to achieve a racially diverse student body.

The decision affected the state's public colleges, including the University of Maryland, Salisbury University, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and the Naval Academy.

The case was brought before the Supreme Court by Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative group headed by Edward Blum, a legal strategist who has spent years fighting affirmative action.

In a statement after the court agreed to hear the case, Blum said both Harvard and the University of North Carolina “have racially gerrymandered their freshman classes in order to achieve prescribed racial quotas.”

“Every college applicant should be judged as a unique individual, not as some representative of a racial or ethnic group,” he said at the time.

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