The Justice Department and a conservative legal group have jointly asked a federal appeals court to dismiss a challenge to race-based admissions at the U.S. Naval Academy, citing the military’s permanent end to the practice in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
In a filing Monday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the DOJ and Students for Fair Admissions requested that the case be dismissed as moot and that the district court’s earlier ruling upholding the academy’s policy be vacated.
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“This Department is committed to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity throughout the federal government,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release. “We are proud to partner with the Department of Defense to permanently end race-based admissions at the United States Naval Academy and ensure that admission to this prestigious institution is based exclusively on merit.”
The affirmative action lawsuit, filed by the same group that successfully challenged Harvard and the University of North Carolina’s admissions policies at the Supreme Court, alleged the Naval Academy violated the Fifth Amendment by using race as a factor in admissions decisions. A federal judge upheld the policy in late 2024, citing national security interests and deferring to the executive branch’s military judgment.
That justification no longer stands, according to the joint motion.
Following Trump’s January executive order banning racial preferences in the military, the Pentagon directed all service academies to adopt colorblind, merit-only admissions practices. The Naval Academy complied in February, with its dean of admissions formalizing a policy that explicitly bars consideration of race, ethnicity, or sex in candidate evaluation.
The filing states that the Defense Department has since ratified the changes as permanent.
“The Naval Academy changed its admissions policy so that race and ethnicity are no longer considered in any way at any point,” the government wrote. The department also determined that using race in admissions “does not promote military cohesiveness, lethality, recruitment, retention, or legitimacy.”
Edward Blum, president of SFFA, welcomed the government’s shift in policy in a statement earlier this year. “Racial discrimination is wrong and racial classifications have no place at our nation’s military academies,” he said.
Blum has long fought to end affirmative action, not just in public and private universities but also at military academies. The move for the government to dismiss the case shows an alignment between the DOJ and conservative groups not seen during former President Joe Biden’s term, when the Biden DOJ notably sought to defend affirmative action policies at military schools.
The latest motion asks the appeals court to vacate the district court ruling to prevent it from having future legal weight. The Trump administration’s policy reversal and resulting mootness justify that outcome under standard precedent, the filing argues.
This shift comes as the administration dismantles numerous diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.
Trump’s order earlier this year targeted federal DEI programs, including in hiring and education, and led to a sharp reduction in Education Department staff.
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Military academies such as the Air Force Academy and West Point are also facing similar lawsuits from SFFA. In April, the two schools announced they would stop using affirmative action in admissions policies.
Despite the Trump administration withdrawing these policies, all SFFA military academy lawsuits remain active. The Naval Academy suit could be the first of Blum’s cases dismissed.