Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_l6gn.pdf
Page Number: 204

Cite as:  600 U. S. ____ (2023) 

65 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

mance of the Nation’s military” because it fueled “percep-
tions of racial/ethnic minorities serving as ‘cannon fodder’ 
for white military leaders.”  Military Leadership Diversity 
Comm’n,  From  Representation  to  Inclusion:  Diversity
Leadership for the 21st-Century Military xvi, 15 (2011); see 
also,  e.g.,  R.  Stillman,  Racial  Unrest  in  the  Military:  The 
Challenge and the Response, 34 Pub. Admin. Rev. 221, 221–
222  (1974)  (discussing  other  examples  of  racial  unrest).
Based on “lessons from decades of battlefield experience,” it 
has been the “longstanding military judgment” across ad-
ministrations that racial diversity “is essential to achieving 
a  mission-ready”  military  and  to  ensuring  the  Nation’s 
“ability to compete, deter, and win in today’s increasingly
complex global security environment.”  United States Brief 
13 (internal quotation marks omitted).  The majority recog-
nizes the compelling need for diversity in the military and
the national security implications at stake, see ante, at 22, 
n. 4, but it ends race-conscious college admissions at civil-
ian universities implicating those interests anyway. 

Amici also tell the Court that race-conscious college ad-
missions  are  critical  for  providing  equitable  and  effective
public services.  State and local governments require public 
servants educated in diverse environments who can “iden-
tify,  understand,  and  respond  to  perspectives”  in  “our  in-
creasingly diverse communities.”  Brief for Southern Gov-
ernors  as  Amici  Curiae  5–8  (Southern  Governors  Brief ).
Likewise,  increasing  the  number  of  students  from  un-
derrepresented backgrounds who join “the ranks of medical 
professionals” improves “healthcare access and health out-
comes  in  medically  underserved  communities.”    Brief  for 
Massachusetts et al. as Amici Curiae 10; see Brief for Asso-
ciation of American Medical Colleges et al. as Amici Curiae 
5 (noting also that all physicians become better practition-
ers when they learn in a racially diverse environment).  So 
too,  greater  diversity  within  the  teacher  workforce  im-
proves  student  academic  achievement  in  primary  public