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A request has been made to the U.S. Supreme Court by a parents’ group, supported by a conservative legal organization, to examine a high-profile high school admissions case involving allegations of racial discrimination. The case pertains to the admissions policy of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, an esteemed institution located in Virginia.
This legal development comes shortly after the conservative majority within the Supreme Court ruled against considering race as a factor in college and university admissions. However, the case of Thomas Jefferson High School is distinct in that the admissions policy introduced in 2020 by Virginia’s Fairfax County School Board for this magnet high school is ostensibly race-neutral.
Thomas Jefferson High School, commonly known as TJ, holds a prominent position among the top public high schools in the United States. The revised admissions policy aimed to create a more diverse student body by eliminating a standardized test from the admissions process, instituting a limit on the number of students from each district middle school, and ensuring reserved seats for the highest-performing students from each middle school.
See also: Biden Administration Encourages College Diversity Efforts Following Supreme Court Ruling
Following these changes, there was an increase in the representation of Black and Hispanic students. However, notably, the proportion of Asian-American students experienced a decline, dropping from 73% to 54% in the first year of implementation.
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The plaintiffs in this case, a parents’ group named Coalition for TJ, which comprises members from the Asian-American community, initiated legal action, contending that the new policy was designed with racially discriminatory intentions, thereby violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In a ruling delivered in February 2022, U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton sided with the lawyers representing the parents’ group affiliated with the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation. However, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond overturned this decision in May. The appellate court stated that the school board did not have a discriminatory motive against Asian-Americans and had a valid interest in diversifying the range of student backgrounds.
In their petition submitted to the Supreme Court, the lawyers representing the coalition argued that the Supreme Court’s previous decision in June, which marked the end of affirmative action in college admissions, could be undermined if educational institutions could achieve similar discriminatory outcomes through ostensibly race-neutral means.
As of now, there has been no immediate response from the school board’s legal representative in regard to this development.
It is noteworthy that in the previous year, the Supreme Court declined to intervene on an urgent basis to block the admissions policy of Thomas Jefferson High School, although three justices with conservative leanings expressed dissenting opinions on the matter.
This recent move to seek Supreme Court review underscores the ongoing legal debates surrounding affirmative action, diversity, and race-conscious admissions policies in educational institutions. The outcome of this case has the potential to shape the parameters within which such policies are crafted and evaluated moving forward.
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