US Navy Lawyers Argue In Favor Of Affirmative Action In Civil Trial

Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional in 2023, lawyers for the United States Naval Academy argue that aspects of the practice are necessary to build a cohesive academy during a civil trial in Maryland.

According to The Associated Press, the same party responsible for the case in which the Supreme Court’s conservative judges ruled that affirmative action was unconstitutional is responsible for this civil case against the United States Naval Academy.

Although the case brought by Students for Fair Admissions in 2023 resulted in the end of affirmative action on college campuses and a subsequent tidal wave of anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from several actors, including conservative governors and legislative bodies, the military service academies were left exempt from that ruling.

Conservative activist Edward Blum’s group, Students for Fair Admissions, eventually sued the United States Naval Academy, based in Annapolis, Maryland, in a bid to change that exemption from the affirmative action ruling.

According to Vox, in a similar case, Students for Fair Admissions v. United States Military Academy West Point, a case which was on the Supreme Court’s shadow docket earlier in 2024, Blum’s group argued that West Point, the Army’s military academy, should also not use race as a factor in its admissions process.

However, Solicitor General Elizabeth Pelogar warned the Supreme Court in a brief that “a lack of diversity in leadership can jeopardize the Army’s ability to win wars.”

Prelogar continued, “Plagued by accusations that white officers were using minority service members as ‘cannon fodder,’ the Army confronted racial violence that ‘extended from fire bases in Vietnam to army posts within the United States to installations in West Germany, Korea, Thailand, and Okinawa.’”

A bench trial for Blum’s group’s lawsuit is currently underway. It is overseen by Judge Richard Bennett, a federal judge in Baltimore’s federal court system who was appointed by George W. Bush. Bennett also served for more than 20 years in the U.S. Army Reserve and Maryland’s National Guard.

Lt. Col. Dakota Wood, a white man who is a retired Marine Corps officer and a 1985 graduate of the Naval Academy, argued that racial and ethnic diversity is irrelevant when creating a cohesive fighting force.

Meanwhile, Capt. Jason Birch, a Black former Navy SEAL commander who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1999, said that his experiences as a Black officer illustrate the importance of having Black people in leadership positions in the military.

One of those reasons, Birch argued, is that diversity is a hallmark of core American values. Birch also recounted instances where he was subjected to racist behavior from white colleagues and contrasted those with experiences abroad where his race earned respect from various foreign leaders.

In court documents, attorneys for the United States Naval Academy spoke to the strife that came with a less diverse military. “For decades, senior military leaders have concluded that the fighting force is stronger when it is racially and otherwise diverse at all levels. The Armed Forces learned this lesson the hard way.”

The lawyers continued, arguing that America’s military has had to deal with “internal racial strife that has risked mission readiness since its inception,” arguing that although significant progress has been made, it remains vitally important to have a military that tries to reflect the demographics of the country because that helps reduce internal conflicts.

According to the attorneys, race sometimes comes into play during the admissions process for the Naval Academy, but it is one among numerous factors that determine admission into the United States Naval Academy, and its consideration in the admissions process is often limited. Despite these arguments, attorneys for Blum’s group argued that merit and achievement alone should be enough for the United States Naval Academy.

“For most of its history, the Academy has evaluated midshipmen based on merit and achievement,” attorneys for Students for Fair Admissions wrote in court documents. “For good reasons: America’s enemies do not fight differently based on the race of the commanding officer opposing them, sailors must follow orders without regard to the skin color of those giving them, and battlefield realities apply equally to all sailors regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

It should be noted that the strategies submitted by Blum’s group all have the potential for increasing the representation of whites in the Naval Academy but decreasing the representation of other groups. Their attorneys advocated for focusing on the socioeconomic status of potential Naval Academy students, noting that they believed it would produce similar results.

However, like Prelogar, Beth Bailey, a professor of history at the University of Kansas, said that the lack of Black soldiers in leadership roles during the Vietnam War severely jeopardized the country’s war effort, and Bailey likened it to a missing weapon of war.

According to the AP, the bench trial is expected to conclude by Oct. 4, and no matter who wins, the verdict will almost certainly be appealed.