Maryland
Judge upholds use of race in Naval Academy admissions
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge on Friday ruled that the U.S. Naval Academy can continue considering race in its admissions process, finding that military cohesion and other national security factors mean the school should not be subjected to the same standards as civilian universities.
During a two-week bench trial in September, attorneys for the academy argued that prioritizing diversity in the military makes it stronger, more effective and more widely respected.
The group behind the case, Students for Fair Admissions, also brought the lawsuit challenging affirmative action that resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year. The high court’s conservative majority broadly prohibited the consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions, ending a longstanding practice meant to boost opportunities for historically marginalized groups and sending shockwaves through higher education. But it carved out a potential exemption for military academies, suggesting that national security interests could affect the legal analysis.
Students for Fair Admissions later sued the Annapolis-based Naval Academy challenging the exemption.
But Judge Richard Bennett rejected their arguments in a lengthy opinion released Friday.
A George W. Bush appointee who served for over 20 years in the U.S. Army Reserve and the Maryland National Guard, Bennett wrote that the school had “established a compelling national security interest in a diverse officer corps.”
“Specifically, the Academy has tied its use of race to the realization of an officer corps that represents the country it protects and the people it leads,” he wrote. “The Academy has proven that this national security interest is indeed measurable and that its admissions program is narrowly tailored to meet that interest.”
Bennett noted that demographics are a minor factor in Naval Academy admissions — no one is admitted solely on the basis of race. He also noted that Students for Fair Admissions includes among its membership “four individuals whose prior applications to the U.S. Naval Academy were denied.”
In a statement Friday, President Edward Blum said the group would appeal the decision.
“It is our hope that the U.S. military academies ultimately will be compelled to follow the Supreme Court’s prohibition of race in college admissions,” he said.
Attorneys for the group argued during trial that prioritizing minority candidates is unfair to qualified white applicants and that cohesion should arise from other sources such as training and command structure.
The group also sued West Point last year, but the Naval Academy case was the first case to go to trial.
Witness testimony included accounts from current and former high-ranking military officials who expressed varying opinions on how race affects the experiences of service members and the organization as a whole. Some argued that performance standards alone should be used to evaluate candidates while others emphasized the importance of fostering diversity.
The court also heard from historians who described the military’s fraught history of racial tension, which on some occasions erupted into violence and jeopardized its wartime readiness.
“The United States military has long made the judgment that developing and maintaining a fighting force that is qualified and demographically diverse at all levels is critical for mission effectiveness,” Bennet wrote in his ruling.
The Legal Defense Fund, which filed a brief in support of the Naval Academy, celebrated the outcome.
“The military is keenly aware that a climate of distrust caused by a lack of equal opportunity along racial lines risks mission failure and loss of life,” senior counsel Michaele Turnage Young said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that some are willing to undermine the safety of our sailors and risk our country’s national security by promoting exclusion.”
Currently, the Naval Academy’s admissions process considers many factors, including grades, extracurricular activities, life experience and socioeconomic status, according to court testimony. Race often plays no role in the process, but sometimes it comes under consideration in a “limited fashion,” attorneys for the academy wrote in court papers.
West Virginia
Former State Attorney General Darrell McGraw dies at 88
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Darrell V. McGraw Jr., a former longtime West Virginia attorney general and state Supreme Court justice who fought back against the state’s drug overdose crisis, died Saturday. He was 88.
Jared Hunt, a spokesman for the state Supreme Court, said in an email that McGraw died of a heart attack.
The West Virginia Democratic Party called McGraw “a tireless advocate for justice, fairness, and the people of our great state.”
A Democrat, McGraw won a 12-year term on the Supreme Court in 1976. He was elected attorney general in 1992 and re-elected four times before losing to Republican Patrick Morrisey in 2012. McGraw lost a bid to return to the Supreme Court in 2016.
In 2001, McGraw accused Purdue Pharma in a lawsuit of dishonestly marketing the painkiller OxyContin in West Virginia. The company agreed to a $10 million settlement in 2004.
McGraw later filed a lawsuit over excessive amounts of prescription painkillers that were flooding southern West Virginia pharmacies. After McGraw left office, the state announced settlements of $20 million with distributor Cardinal Health Inc. and $16 million with AmerisourceBergen Drug Co.
In addition, a Georgia company that McGraw accused of supplying ingredients used to make drugs known as bath salts and synthetic marijuana agreed not to sell or advertise in the state.
The drug overdose epidemic has killed more than 1 million people in the United States since 1999. West Virginia for years has had by far the nation’s highest overdose death rate.
McGraw also focused on consumer protection and antitrust laws, suing direct mail marketers, credit card companies, alternative lenders and other businesses.
In 1998 his office was part of a national settlement against major U.S. cigarette manufacturers. West Virginia currently has the highest rate of adult smokers.
Born Nov. 8, 1936, in Wyoming County, McGraw enlisted in the Army as a teenager. Attending West Virginia University, he was elected student body president and earned bachelor’s and law degrees.
He later became counsel to the state legislature and to Gov. Hulett Smith before being elected to the Supreme Court.
McGraw’s wife, Jorea Marple, is a former state schools superintendent. His brother, former state Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw, died last year.
McGraw is survived by his wife and four children, Hunt said.
Judge upholds use of race in Naval Academy admissions
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge on Friday ruled that the U.S. Naval Academy can continue considering race in its admissions process, finding that military cohesion and other national security factors mean the school should not be subjected to the same standards as civilian universities.
During a two-week bench trial in September, attorneys for the academy argued that prioritizing diversity in the military makes it stronger, more effective and more widely respected.
The group behind the case, Students for Fair Admissions, also brought the lawsuit challenging affirmative action that resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year. The high court’s conservative majority broadly prohibited the consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions, ending a longstanding practice meant to boost opportunities for historically marginalized groups and sending shockwaves through higher education. But it carved out a potential exemption for military academies, suggesting that national security interests could affect the legal analysis.
Students for Fair Admissions later sued the Annapolis-based Naval Academy challenging the exemption.
But Judge Richard Bennett rejected their arguments in a lengthy opinion released Friday.
A George W. Bush appointee who served for over 20 years in the U.S. Army Reserve and the Maryland National Guard, Bennett wrote that the school had “established a compelling national security interest in a diverse officer corps.”
“Specifically, the Academy has tied its use of race to the realization of an officer corps that represents the country it protects and the people it leads,” he wrote. “The Academy has proven that this national security interest is indeed measurable and that its admissions program is narrowly tailored to meet that interest.”
Bennett noted that demographics are a minor factor in Naval Academy admissions — no one is admitted solely on the basis of race. He also noted that Students for Fair Admissions includes among its membership “four individuals whose prior applications to the U.S. Naval Academy were denied.”
In a statement Friday, President Edward Blum said the group would appeal the decision.
“It is our hope that the U.S. military academies ultimately will be compelled to follow the Supreme Court’s prohibition of race in college admissions,” he said.
Attorneys for the group argued during trial that prioritizing minority candidates is unfair to qualified white applicants and that cohesion should arise from other sources such as training and command structure.
The group also sued West Point last year, but the Naval Academy case was the first case to go to trial.
Witness testimony included accounts from current and former high-ranking military officials who expressed varying opinions on how race affects the experiences of service members and the organization as a whole. Some argued that performance standards alone should be used to evaluate candidates while others emphasized the importance of fostering diversity.
The court also heard from historians who described the military’s fraught history of racial tension, which on some occasions erupted into violence and jeopardized its wartime readiness.
“The United States military has long made the judgment that developing and maintaining a fighting force that is qualified and demographically diverse at all levels is critical for mission effectiveness,” Bennet wrote in his ruling.
The Legal Defense Fund, which filed a brief in support of the Naval Academy, celebrated the outcome.
“The military is keenly aware that a climate of distrust caused by a lack of equal opportunity along racial lines risks mission failure and loss of life,” senior counsel Michaele Turnage Young said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that some are willing to undermine the safety of our sailors and risk our country’s national security by promoting exclusion.”
Currently, the Naval Academy’s admissions process considers many factors, including grades, extracurricular activities, life experience and socioeconomic status, according to court testimony. Race often plays no role in the process, but sometimes it comes under consideration in a “limited fashion,” attorneys for the academy wrote in court papers.
West Virginia
Former State Attorney General Darrell McGraw dies at 88
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Darrell V. McGraw Jr., a former longtime West Virginia attorney general and state Supreme Court justice who fought back against the state’s drug overdose crisis, died Saturday. He was 88.
Jared Hunt, a spokesman for the state Supreme Court, said in an email that McGraw died of a heart attack.
The West Virginia Democratic Party called McGraw “a tireless advocate for justice, fairness, and the people of our great state.”
A Democrat, McGraw won a 12-year term on the Supreme Court in 1976. He was elected attorney general in 1992 and re-elected four times before losing to Republican Patrick Morrisey in 2012. McGraw lost a bid to return to the Supreme Court in 2016.
In 2001, McGraw accused Purdue Pharma in a lawsuit of dishonestly marketing the painkiller OxyContin in West Virginia. The company agreed to a $10 million settlement in 2004.
McGraw later filed a lawsuit over excessive amounts of prescription painkillers that were flooding southern West Virginia pharmacies. After McGraw left office, the state announced settlements of $20 million with distributor Cardinal Health Inc. and $16 million with AmerisourceBergen Drug Co.
In addition, a Georgia company that McGraw accused of supplying ingredients used to make drugs known as bath salts and synthetic marijuana agreed not to sell or advertise in the state.
The drug overdose epidemic has killed more than 1 million people in the United States since 1999. West Virginia for years has had by far the nation’s highest overdose death rate.
McGraw also focused on consumer protection and antitrust laws, suing direct mail marketers, credit card companies, alternative lenders and other businesses.
In 1998 his office was part of a national settlement against major U.S. cigarette manufacturers. West Virginia currently has the highest rate of adult smokers.
Born Nov. 8, 1936, in Wyoming County, McGraw enlisted in the Army as a teenager. Attending West Virginia University, he was elected student body president and earned bachelor’s and law degrees.
He later became counsel to the state legislature and to Gov. Hulett Smith before being elected to the Supreme Court.
McGraw’s wife, Jorea Marple, is a former state schools superintendent. His brother, former state Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw, died last year.
McGraw is survived by his wife and four children, Hunt said.
