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WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to review a controversial admissions policy aimed at increasing diversity at one of the nation’s most prestigious high schools, following a challenge from a group of Virginia parents who say it violates the Constitution. was rejected.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, writing that it would overturn lower court decisions that upheld the policy.
“What the 4th Circuit majority essentially held is that intentional racial discrimination is constitutional unless it is too severe,” Alito said in a dissenting opinion joined by Thomas. I am writing inside. “This reasoning is indefensible and calls for revision.”
The decision comes months after the Supreme Court halted the use of affirmative action at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Other universities, schools and companies are scrambling to respond to the ruling, reviewing their diversity policies to ensure they can withstand court scrutiny.
“We have long believed that the new admissions process is constitutional and in the best interest of all students,” Carl Frisch, chairman of the Fairfax County, Virginia, Board of Education, said in a statement after the decision. Stated. All qualified students from all areas of Fairfax County have ample opportunity to attend this exceptional high school. ”
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In the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the Fairfax County Board of Education changed the admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology. The high school, often ranked as one of the best high schools in the nation, enrolls black and Hispanic students. students made up a small portion of the total student body.
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The new policy requires schools to accept 1.5% of the eighth-grade class at each middle school in the district. Plaintiffs in the case argue that while this had the effect of increasing the number of black students, it had a “significant negative impact on Asian American students in achieving the desired racial balance.” did.
Parent groups filed a lawsuit in 2021 claiming the policy violates the 14th Amendment’s requirement that similarly situated people be treated similarly under the law.
The school board countered that the policy was race-neutral because it did not set racial targets and applicants’ races were not known to admissions officials. In other words, this policy is based on geography, not race. However, some of the district’s middle schools are comprised primarily of minority students, so guaranteeing admission to Thomas Jefferson for some of their graduates increased the school’s diversity.
U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ruled in February that unacceptable “racial balance” was at the core of the new admissions policy, and that the policy violated the 14th Amendment. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond overturned that decision.
The Court of Appeals stated, “We are satisfied that the Board’s adoption of the challenged admissions policy is fully consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement for equal protection under the law.” . The court ruled that the policy “does not take into account the racially disparate impact on Asian American students.”
Alito said the court reached that conclusion because Asian Americans remain the majority.
“That is a clearly misunderstood understanding of what it means for a law or policy to differentially impact members of a particular racial or ethnic group,” he wrote.
Richard Kahlenberg, a longtime advocate of a class-conscious approach to admissions selection and an expert witness in successful challenges to policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, called the decision “a poor labor force.” “It’s a victory for the class of students.” all races. ”
He argued that by allowing high school admissions procedures while blocking affirmative action policies in colleges, courts advocated racial diversity and opposed the use of racial preferences to get there. He said he is doing so.
But Sonya Starr, a law professor at the University of Chicago, predicts the high court is not done speaking yet.
The justices likely declined to examine Virginia high school admissions policies, in part because of how schools would react to previous decisions and how lower courts might respond. This is to see what will happen.
“There will be litigation and there will be many other opportunities for the Supreme Court to intervene in the coming years,” she said. “I would be surprised if it stays out of these questions forever.”Erm.”
By denying the appeal, the Supreme Court leaves the Fourth Circuit’s decision in place.
The Supreme Court had previously considered the Thomas Jefferson case once earlier. The plaintiffs asked the judge to temporarily block the school’s policy while the lawsuit continues in lower courts. The court denied that request last year without explaining its decision. Three conservative justices, Thomas, Alito and Neil Gorsuch, said they would have blocked the policy.
The school’s current freshman class, admitted under the new policy, has a much different racial makeup than before. Black students increased from 1% to 7% of the student body, according to court records. The percentage of Hispanics increased from 3% to 11%. The percentage of Asian Americans decreased from 73% to 54%.
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