Officials at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy settled litigation with the Justice Department regarding their race-driven admissions practices.
Students for Fair Admissions, a group suing the schools for their policies of assigning greater weight to student applications from certain racial groups, therefore nixed their lawsuits, according to a Tuesday report from CNN.
Two years ago, when the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in college admissions, they left a caveat for military academies.
The Biden administration at the time tried to say that the federal government had a compelling interest to increase diversity in the military, a claim that Students for Fair Admissions was challenging.
After the settlement of West Point and the Air Force Academy, a Justice Department release said that the agreement “avoids the need for continued litigation in these two cases.”
“It includes agreed-upon terms that help ensure that admission to these prestigious institutions is based exclusively on merit, not race or ethnicity,” the release continued.
Attorney General Pam Bondi linked the settlement to a broader Trump administration opposition to wokeness in federal agencies.
“This Department is committed to eliminating DEI practices throughout the federal government,” Bondi said in a statement.
“We are proud to partner with the Department of Defense to permanently end race-based admissions at West Point and the Air Force Academy — admission to these prestigious military institutions should be based exclusively on merit.”
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In the same way, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York said, “America is the land of equal opportunity, in spirit and in law.”
He views race-driven admissions as contradictions to that objective.
“Today’s agreement ensures that our future military leaders will carry on the greatness that is born of opportunity, effort, and a level playing field,” Clayton said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has likewise emphasized a merit-driven ethos at the Pentagon, as well as the removal of leftist ideology.
He has thereby called for a reform from all diversity, equity, and inclusion offers at the military academies.
“ALL FUTURE ADMISSIONS will be ‘exclusively on merit,’” Hegseth said on social media.
“‘Race, ethnicity, or sex’ can NO LONGER BE CONSIDERED.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year instructing the Pentagon not to use “any preference based on race or sex,” CNN reported.
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