Jim Banks To Grill Military Academy Heads On Race-Based Admissions

House lawmakers plan to grill leaders of the military service academies on their use of race-based admissions at a hearing scheduled for July 19 after a Supreme Court ruling overturning affirmative action did not confirm whether service academies could be exempt.

The Supreme Court ruled on June 29 that universities’ affirmative action policies violated the Constitution’s guarantees of equal treatment for all races, but left open a question of addressing racial preference in military service academies’ admissions decisions, according to the opinion. Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, who chairs the Military Personnel Subcommittee on the House’s armed services panel, will lead the probe next week into how U.S. military academies’ prioritize attracting and admitting future officers of minority races or ethnicities.

“Colorblindness and consistent standards are very important in universities, but in our officer corps they’re life and death issues,” Banks told the Daily Caller News Foundation.