Judge Richard Bennett decided not to temporarily block the Naval Academy’s use of race in admissions.
Students for Fair Admissions ended race-based university admissions earlier this year in its cases against Harvard and North Carolina on behalf of Asian students.
But as Jim explained, the case has a footnote: the ruling does not apply to military academies.
SFAA brought a lawsuit against the Naval Academy and West Point in November, which Jim also wrote about. The group claims the academy “has no justification for using race-based admissions.”
Based in Baltimore, Bennett said “that Students for Fair Admissions had not sufficiently shown that its case would likely succeed against the military school.”
From Politico:
Multiple times during the hearing, which ran more than two hours, Bennett was combative with the lawyers representing SFFA, a group whose lawsuits essentially dismantled race-conscious affirmative action in higher education earlier this year before the Supreme Court. He also called a preliminary injunction against the Naval Academy an “extraordinary remedy.”SFFA lawyers said they may appeal the preliminary injunction, something Bennett warned against, saying there are important issues to unearth in discovery.“This case will stop dead under the water,” Bennett said, adding that if the circuit court reverses his decision, the case will be “frozen.”
Bennett agreed to publish “an opinion on the merits” within a week. He also told the lawyers that “he was willing to work quickly.”
Bennett also dashed the hopes of the government by not buying its argument “that SFFA lacked standing over its use of unnamed member plaintiffs looking to end race-based affirmative action in one of the last places it’s permitted in higher education.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY