The Supreme court succinctly denied the Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA) request for an injunction to stop West Point’s race-based admissions practices while the lower court handles the case with this order (and see the Reuters write-up here: link).
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2024
23A696 STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS V. USMA AT WEST POINT, ET AL.
The application for writ of injunction pending appeal presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied. The record before this Court is underdeveloped, and this order should not be construed as expressing any view on the merits of the constitutional question.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/020224zr1_2b35.pdf
This makes sense on its face, but with the SC we’ve learned that there are often subtleties and nuance to its language and actions. We’ll leave it to the more Court-attuned legal scholars to give opinions on what this means for the Court’s disposition towards the ultimate case resolution.
Interested parties should sign into the STARRS web site and get a thorough and complete assessment from their legal staff, especially Amicus briefer, Scott McQuirrie. This is not not bad news and as Scott has opined the SFFA application was done in haste and without thinking through the current court’s interest in allowing the lower courts to opine. Hopefully, the Harvard et al decision will be extended, in time, to remove the very harmful lack of merit currently being used in cadet admission decisions. Quotas and pre-selection based on race, ideology, gender or athletic skill alone have effectively destroyed the once proud ethos of DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY.
JERRY SORROW ’68