National advocacy organization Students for fair admissions is suing the US Air Force Academy, claiming the school’s use of race in admissions is unconstitutional, according to a complaint filed this week in the US District Court in the District of Colorado.
Students for Fair Admissions won a similar lawsuit against Harvard College in 2023 when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected affirmative action in college admissions, and the new lawsuit comes less than a week after a federal judge in Maryland ruled against the organization’s efforts to to stop the study. US Naval Academy considers race in admissions.
The group filed a complaint Tuesday against the school, north of Colorado Springs, asking a judge to declare the academy’s use of race in admissions unconstitutional and issue an order prohibiting officials from “considering the race of applicants to make or know in making admission decisions,” according to court records.
An academy spokesperson declined to comment on the case Thursday, citing ongoing litigation.
The lawsuit, which also names the U.S. Department of Defense and top military and government officials, alleges that the Air Force Academy violates the Fifth Amendment as “one of the last remaining universities to expressly consider race as a factor in admissions.”
Lawyers for the group claim that the The Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection Principle applies to the federal government in the same way that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment applies to the states.
Students for Fair Admissions have “at least one member,” a high school student, who is willing and able to apply to the academy and may be adversely affected by the admissions policy because they are white, the complaint said.
“If the Academy is allowed to continue to make admissions decisions based on the race of applicants, SFFA members will be harmed by being denied the opportunity to compete on equal grounds for appointment to the Air Force solely because of their race,” attorneys for the group wrote in the filing.
Tentative scheduling of hearings will begin in January.
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