Though the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action at higher education institutions on Thursday, the court’s 6-3 majority opinion will not affect military academies.

The Supreme Court exempted military schools from the national ban on race-conscious admissions practices at universities and colleges, determining that “race-based admissions programs further compelling interests at our Nation’s military academies.” The exemption was first specified in a footnote to the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

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“No military academy is a party to these cases, however, and none of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context,” the decision read. “This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.”

The dissenting opinions go on to explain that the “potentially distinct interests” pertain to national security concerns.

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted the exemption, saying it effectively “highlights the arbitrariness” of the conservative majority’s argument.

“To the extent the Court suggests national security interests are ‘distinct,’ those interests cannot explain the Court’s narrow exemption, as national security interests are also implicated at civilian universities,” Sotomayor wrote. “The Court also attempts to justify its carveout based on the fact that ‘[n]o military academy is a party to these cases.’”

Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson further argued the military academy exemption is “a particularly awkward place to land.”

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“The Court has come to rest on the bottom-line conclusion that racial diversity in higher education is only worth potentially preserving insofar as it might be needed to prepare Black Americans and other underrepresented minorities for success in the bunker, not the boardroom,” Jackson wrote.

The court excluded military schools from the decision because they did not directly pertain to the two cases, which involved Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The nonprofit group Students for Fair Admissions brought both cases against the universities before the Supreme Court.