Commentary: Affirmative action is banned — except at military academies? Why that won’t help students

With a conservative majority on the bench, the recent Supreme Court ruling to strike down affirmative action was widely expected. One unexpected twist, however, was an inconspicuous footnote exempting military academies from the drastic change.

In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. briefly singled out military academies as the sole class of institutions allowed to maintain race-conscious admissions practices. This unexplained double standard illuminates the flaws in the court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. It may also doom more minority