Group behind Supreme Court affirmative action cases files lawsuit against West Point over admissions policies
CBSSEP 22 2023
The Facts
Virginia-based Students for Fair Admissions on Tuesday filed a suit against the US Military Academy at West Point, accusing the Army’s school of discriminating against white applicants.
The anti-affirmative action group claims West Point has been setting quotas for the number of Black, Hispanic, and Asian cadets it accepts to each class, thereby violating the Fifth Amendment’s equal-protection clause.
In the complaint, Students for Fair Admissions notes that the academy used to focus on “merit and achievement” when assembling its classes, but stated that race is now “wholly determinative” of who gets in.
The Spin
Right narrative
There’s no justification for West Point continuing to weigh race so heavily in its admission decisions. SCOTUS has already struck down race-based admissions at all other institutions of higher education and it’s time to apply the same standard to West Point, so as to avoid harming students who deserve acceptance but get rejected based on skin color.
Left narrative
Unlike other institutions of higher learning, the military has determined that a diverse student body will lead directly to improved performance of the organization in the field. Vietnam taught the military that a lack of minorities in officer positions affected its effectiveness on the battlefield, so the SCOTUS ruling shouldn’t apply to West Point or any other military institution.
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Political split
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RIGHT
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