Students for Fair Admissions Announces Settlement With Department of Defense Ending Race-Based Admissions at West Point and the Air Force Academy
For Immediate Release:
August 11, 2025
Contact:
Edward Blum
703-505-1922
(Arlington, VA) – Today, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) announced that it has reached a landmark settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Department of Defense that will permanently end the consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions at the United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Air Force Academy.
The agreement is attached.
Under the terms of the agreement, both academies will:
· Apply no consideration of race or ethnicity in admissions;
· Maintain no race-based goals or quotas;
· Shield race and ethnicity information from admissions decision makers;
· Train admissions personnel to adhere to strict merit-only standards.
These policies, which were approved at the highest levels of the Department of Defense, will be permanent and apply to all future admissions cycles.
This settlement follows SFFA’s earlier litigation against the U.S. Naval Academy, in which the Biden administration had defended the use of race in admissions. However, earlier this year, under President Trump’s Executive Order 14185, the Department of Defense determined that race-based admissions at military academies are not justified by military necessity and do not advance national security, cohesion, or readiness. In that case, the Department formally abandoned the position that a “compelling national security interest in a diverse officer corps” justified race-based policies.
The litigation against West Point and the Air Force Academy will be dismissed with prejudice, with each side bearing its own costs. The settlement preserves SFFA’s right to challenge any future changes to these policies.
Edward Blum, president of SFFA, said, “This is an historic day for the principle of equal treatment under the law at our nation’s military academies. Together with the Naval Academy case earlier this year, this agreement ensures that America’s critically important military service academies will admit future officers based solely on merit, not skin color or ancestry.”
Blum added, “SFFA is deeply grateful to the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense for working with us to resolve this matter in a way that strengthens our military, our nation and upholds the Constitution.”