Court asked to decide if race can be used in deciding high school admissions.

A conservative legal organization has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a case regarding the admissions policy of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Virginia. This elite magnet school ranks among the top public high schools in the United States.

In 2020, the Fairfax County School Board adopted a new policy for admissions to the school, which was on its face race neutral. The policy eliminated standardized testing, and capped the number of students from each middle school. As a result of these changes, the number of Black and Hispanic students increased, while the percentage of Asian-American students dropped to 54% from 73%.

In response, a parents group called Coalition for TJ, which includes Asian-Americans, filed a lawsuit. They argued that the policy was adopted with a racially discriminatory purpose, in violation of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

The U.S. District Judge initially sided with the coalition, but the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision. The appeals court said that the board did not intend to discriminate against Asian-Americans and had a legitimate interest in "expanding the array of student backgrounds."

In their petition to the Supreme Court, the coalition's lawyers said the court's June decision on college admissions "might mean little if schools could accomplish the same discriminatory result through race-neutral proxies." Last year, the Supreme Court declined to block the policy, although three of its conservative justices dissented. It remains to be seen whether the court will choose to hear the case.

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