Are the boards given quotas for diversity reasons?
No. The precepts tell the board how many officers to select for promotion from the eligible candidate pool without any reference to race or gender. Based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1995 case of Adarand v. United States Department of Transportation, Federal affirmative action programs that use racial and/or ethnic criteria as a basis for decision making are subject to strict judicial scrutiny, which typically results in judicial invalidation of such race-based initiatives. In the wake of the Adarand decision, the DOD has lost several landmark cases (Baker v. United States and most recently, Christian v. United States) in which selection boards were impermissibly using race and gender as criteria. In essence, the impact of the Adarand decision and follow on rulings is that boards cannot be directed to consider minority or gender status in selecting those officers “best qualified” for promotion.
