By The Related Press
The Supreme Court docket on Feb. 20 left in place the admissions coverage at an elite public highschool in Virginia that some mother and father claimed discriminates in opposition to extremely certified Asian Individuals.
The courtroom’s order, over the dissent of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, ended a authorized problem to a coverage that was overhauled in 2020 to extend variety, with out taking race under consideration.
A panel of the federal appeals courtroom in Richmond had earlier upheld the constitutionality of the admissions coverage on the Thomas Jefferson Excessive College for Science and Expertise, a college steadily cited among the many greatest within the nation.
The excessive courtroom’s consideration of the case adopted its choice in June that struck down admissions insurance policies at faculties and universities that took account of the race of candidates.
The Fairfax County College Board overhauled the Thomas Jefferson admissions course of in 2020, scrapping a standardized take a look at. The brand new coverage offers weight in favor of candidates who’re economically deprived or nonetheless studying English, nevertheless it doesn’t take race under consideration.
The impact within the first freshman class admitted beneath it was to extend the share of Black college students from 1 % to 7 % and Hispanic college students from 3 % to 11 %. Each teams have been significantly underrepresented for many years. Asian American illustration decreased from 73 % to 54 %.
For the present faculty yr, Black and Hispanic college students made up 6.7 % and 6 %, respectively, of these supplied admission, the varsity board stated. Asian Individuals represented 61.6 % of these admitted, the board stated.
“We have now lengthy believed that the brand new admissions course of is each constitutional and in the very best curiosity of all of our college students. It ensures that each one certified college students from all neighborhoods in Fairfax County have a good shot at attending this distinctive highschool,” stated Karl Frisch, Fairfax County College Board chair.
In 2022, a federal decide discovered the varsity board engaged in impermissible “racial balancing” when it overhauled admissions. The appeals courtroom reversed that ruling.
Alito wrote that the district courtroom bought it proper. The appeals courtroom primarily dominated that “intentional racial discrimination is constitutional as long as it’s not too extreme,” he wrote.
The mother and father who challenged the coverage say it discriminates in opposition to Asian American candidates who would have been granted admission if tutorial advantage have been the only real standards, and that efforts to extend Black and Hispanic illustration essentially come on the expense of Asian Individuals.
“The Supreme Court docket missed an necessary alternative to finish race-based discrimination in Okay-12 admissions,” stated Pacific Authorized Basis senior lawyer Joshua Thompson, who represents the mother and father who challenged.
This text was initially printed by The Related Press.
