The U.S. Department of Justice said it has reached settlements that require the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy to end the consideration of race or ethnicity in their admissions decisions. The agreements, announced on Aug. 12, resolve lawsuits filed by the nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions, which challenged the schools’ policies as unconstitutional. Under the terms of the settlement, both academies must remove race-based goals or quotas, keep applicants’ race and ethnicity information shielded from admissions officers, and train personnel to apply merit-only criteria. The Justice Department said the provisions are permanent and will take effect with the next admissions cycle, aligning the service academies with a broader push by the Trump administration to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs across federal institutions. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the resolution “a step toward ensuring that admission to these prestigious military institutions is based exclusively on merit.” The settlements follow a similar agreement with the U.S. Naval Academy earlier this year and mark another victory for Students for Fair Admissions, the group that successfully argued the 2023 Supreme Court case that ended affirmative action in civilian higher education.