The U.S. Navy on Monday will begin to defend its use of race as an admissions factor at the Naval Academy after a Supreme Court case overturning affirmative action left a carve out for service academies. 

The same group that brought the case to end affirmative action to the Supreme Court’s attention, Students for Fair Admissions, brought a case against the Naval Academy after the Supreme Court’s ruling explicitly did not address the consideration of race as a factor in admissions at military academies. 

The case kicked off Monday and is being heard in Baltimore by District Judge Richard D. Bennett, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, without the assistance of a jury. 

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Chief Justice John Roberts said factoring race into admissions had “potentially distinct” interests for service academies. 

A June 2023 Supreme Court ruling banned policies that had been in use for decades that gave preference to Black, Hispanic and other minority students on U.S. campuses. The case specifically involved Harvard and North Carolina but applied broadly to mostly all universities except service academies. 

Students for Fair Admissions, led by anti-affirmative action advocate Jason Blum, is arguing the ruling should be extended to service academies, claiming the policies there are discriminatory and violate the principle of equal protection in the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.

A separate case is playing out in the court system in New York involving the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. 

The Naval Academy asks applicants to identify their race, ethnicity and cultural heritage in its online application but says it only considers those factors in limited circumstances.

“Most candidates are unaffected by the consideration of race,” lawyers for the Naval Academy wrote in court filings.

The newly enrolled Class of 2028 includes 642 White students, 178 Hispanic Americans, 132 Asian Americans, 70 African Americans and four Native Americans among a class of nearly 1,200.

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“One does not need to conduct a statistical analysis to see the obvious,” the lawyers wrote. “Despite the Naval Academy’s substantial efforts to increase the number of minority students over time … the number of minority students in every class, and in particular Black American and Hispanic students, falls far short of reflecting the nation’s racial and ethnic demographics.”

The attorneys argue that “unlike civilian universities, USNA prepares students for war.”

Racial diversity is required for national security because it boosts the legitimacy of U.S. fighting forces to the world, fosters cohesion and helps with recruiting, according to the lawyers. 

Students for Fair Admissions claims the academy “manipulates admissions outcomes” to mirror the makeup of the U.S. population, which unfairly disadvantages White and Asian students. 

“The Academy has no justification for using race-based admissions,” the group’s lawyers wrote in court filings. “Those admissions are unconstitutional for all other public institutions of higher education.”

In December, Bennett denied a bid to temporarily bar the Naval Academy from considering race while the lawsuit awaited trial. 

The Democrats’ Senate campaign arm announced massive new spending across the country on Monday focused on contacting voters directly with less than 50 days until the election. 

The $25 million venture is split across 10 states, including Senate battlegrounds Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Montana, as well as places where Democrats are hoping to unseat incumbent Republicans, such as Florida and Texas, despite expectations for Republicans to hold on to them. 

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also spent part of the money in Maryland, where popular former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is threatening the party’s grasp on the state. 

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“A formidable ground game makes all the difference in close races – which is why the DSCC has been working all cycle long to build the organizing infrastructure that will lead to Senate Democrats’ victory,” DSCC Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., said in a statement. 

“This increased investment will help our campaigns expand their organizing capacity, communicate with more voters about the importance of participating in this election and ensure we are reaching every voter we need to win.” 

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In the 10 states, the DSCC’s cash injection will be spent on extra political organizers on the ground, in addition to programs for phone banking, targeted voter constituencies and digital organizing.

The committee also said it could increase this funding ahead of the election. 

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The newly announced spending comes as polls tighten in key races where Republicans are looking to unseat vulnerable incumbent Democrats, giving the GOP a clear shot at taking the Senate majority. 

Former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, the Republican Senate candidate in Montana, was recently given the advantage over his opponent, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., as two top political handicappers shifted the race from a “toss up” to “leans Republican.”

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In another top race, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., was tied by Republican candidate Dave McCormick, with each posting 46% in a recent CNN survey. 

In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., for the first time claimed the Republicans would take back the Senate majority in the upcoming election.

He explained, “Fifty-one is the number that we want to get to. Clearly, there’s an opportunity to get beyond that, but 51 is the number we’ve got to get to.” 

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley released a wide-ranging report Monday morning detailing the failures of the Secret Service in connection with the first assassination attempt against former President Trump in July, including new whistleblower allegations that are “highly damaging to the credibility” of the agency. 

Hawley, R-Mo., shared his report with the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump to supplement their investigation. 

Hawley found a “compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding.” 

“On July 13, 2024, former President Donald J. Trump was nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet while hosting a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Secret Service failed to prevent it,” the Hawley report states. “It was the most stunning breakdown in presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.” 

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Hawley said the Secret Service, FBI and Department of Homeland Security “have all tried to evade real accountability.” 

“These agencies and their leaders have slow-walked congressional investigations, misled the American people, and shirked responsibility,” the report states. 

After the first of two assassination attempts against Trump in just over two months, Hawley visited the Butler rally site to interview whistleblowers and opened up a whistleblower tip line, encouraging those with relevant information to share with officials. 

“The resulting findings are highly damaging to the credibility of the Secret Service and DHS,” the report states. “They reveal a compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding.” 

Whistleblowers provided valuable information to Hawley, including that the Secret Service’s Counter Surveillance Division, which performs threat assessments of event sites, did not perform a typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day of the rally. 

Hawley also learned that Secret Service personnel “declined multiple offers from a local law enforcement partner to deploy drone technology, despite the fact that the would-be assassin used a drone to survey the rally site mere hours before the attempted assassination.” 

Hawley also learned that the Secret Service’s Office of Protective Operations-Manpower told agents in charge of security for the rally “not to request additional security resources because they would be denied.” 

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The report also outlines other whistleblower allegations, including that law enforcement personnel “abandoned” the rooftop where would-be assassin Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump “because of hot weather.”

The report also said the Secret Service agent with the responsibility of the security of the site, including “line-of-site concerns,” was allegedly “known to be incompetent.” 

“That incompetence led to the placement of items like flags around the Butler stage and catwalk, impairing visibility,” the report states. 

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that supplemental DHS personnel were used to fill in shortages of Secret Service personnel on the day of the rally. Some of those agents were allegedly pulled off of child exploitation cases. Whistleblowers said their training was “merely a poor-quality, two-hour webinar.” 

Meanwhile, Hawley revealed in the report that the lead agent responsible for the Butler rally “failed a key examination during their federal law enforcement training to become a Secret Service agent.” 

Hawley also was told that Secret Service intelligence units – or teams of Secret Service agents paired with state and local law enforcement to handle reports of suspicious persons – were allegedly absent from the Butler rally.

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that the hospital site where Trump received treatment after the shooting was “poorly secured, and the hospital site agent could not answer basic questions about site security.” 

Kimberly Cheatle, who was the director of the Secret Service at the time of the rally, resigned from her post amid mounting pressure from congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after the massive security failure. 

The Secret Service’s assistant director, Michael Plati, is also retiring. 

At least five Secret Service agents have been placed on leave since the assassination attempt in July. 

Trump was shot with Crooks’ bullet, which pierced the upper part of his right ear. As Secret Service agents led him away, with blood dripping down his cheek and his right ear, the former president raised his arm defiantly. 

Trump, just a day later, traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the 2024 Republican National Convention. He attended events each night of the convention, and on the final night, formally accepted the GOP presidential nomination. 

Hawley released his report just a day after the second assassination attempt against Trump. 

Trump was golfing at his course at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sunday when Secret Service agents spotted and began shooting at another would-be assassin – Ryan Wesley Routh – who allegedly had an AK-47 pointed at the former president on the green. 

Routh was arrested. Routh laughed and smiled ahead of his first court appearance in Florida on Monday, Fox News confirmed. 

He was charged with possession of firearm by convicted felon and possession of firearm with obliterated serial number. 

The first offense carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. The second offense carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. Routh responded “yes” when asked if he understood the penalties. 

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Fox News is told additional federal charges are possible. The initial charges announced Monday will keep Routh in custody.

The detention hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23, and the probable cause hearing is set for Sept. 30.

Routh has had at least 100 run-ins with law enforcement before his most recent arrest. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the rhetoric of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is causing him to be “shot at,” following the second assassination attempt against him since July, while telling Fox News Digital that the suspected gunman “acted” on “highly inflammatory language” of Democrats.  

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said of the gunman in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out.” 

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Trump pointed to Biden and Harris’ past comments casting Trump as a “threat to democracy,” while telling Americans they are “unity” leaders. 

“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people that want to destroy our country.” 

He added: “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”