SCOTUS Banned Affirmative Action — Except At Military Service Academies

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Daily News, News, Politics

4.4 • 25.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This summer, the Supreme Court overturned the legality of race-based affirmative action at higher education institutions everywhere, with one glaring exception: military service academies. Members of the conservative-leaning court like Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice John Roberts have long been staunch opponents of affirmative action initiatives, but in the case of service academies, the majority opinion cited that diversity in the officer ranks of the military was a "battlefield issue."

Today, we bring you an episode from our colleagues at Code Switch. Co-hosts Gene Demby and Lori Lizarraga take us back to the Vietnam War to explain where that argument came from. And we'll hear from Mary Tobin, a Black woman, combat veteran, and West Point graduate, about why the Court's decision felt like such a blow to her.

This episode was produced with help from Courtney Stein and engineering support from James Willetts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from NPR Sponsored, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation,
0:05.1	who believe high-risk, high-reward research is the best way to make breakthroughs against
0:09.3	cancer.
0:10.3	Learn more about Damon Runyon's brave and bold approach at DamonRunyon.org.
0:15.9	Hey everyone, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:21.5	I'm Asma Saleh.
0:22.5	I cover the White House.
0:23.5	And today, on the show, we're going to bring you some reporting from our dear friends
0:27.3	over at CodeSwitch.
0:28.9	What is the NPR show that you all want to be listening to if you want to better understand
0:32.4	race, culture, and history in the U.S.?
0:35.1	Now, earlier this year, the Supreme Court overturned the use of affirmative action and
0:39.6	higher education, except in one place, U.S. military service academies.
0:45.6	CodeSwitch took a look at why, and we want to share that episode with you all today.
0:49.9	Jean D'Anneby takes it from here.
0:52.2	Just the heads up, y'all.
0:53.2	People contains descriptions of violence, and some salty language, and a racial slur.
1:00.2	Hi, Jean, how are you?
1:05.4	Do you remember where you were when you heard about the Supreme Court overturning affirmative
1:10.1	action because Mary Tobin definitely does?
1:13.4	I was on my couch in my living room, and my phone was blowing up.
1:19.2	It was like, what is going on?
	...

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