Supreme Court Declines to Block High School’s Admissions Policy in Suit Alleging Racial Discrimination

Comes after suit alleged discrimination against Asian Americans

The Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 21, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to temporarily block the admissions policy of a prestigious high school in northern Virginia, after the policy was accused of being discriminatory against Asian Americans.

The parent’s group, Coalition for TJ, asked the high court to temporarily suspend the admissions policy of the school while the case is being considered in lower courts.

The nine-member high court on Monday denied Coalition for TJ’s request and gave no explanation for doing so. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas said in the brief court order they would have blocked the school’s admissions policy for now.

The school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, is often ranked as one of the best public high schools in the United States.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, Va. (Google Maps)

The school board recently adopted a new admissions process that ended a standardized testing requirement, and also guaranteed seats for the top students from each public middle school in the surrounding area.

Asian Americans comprised the majority—more than 70 percent—of the school’s student body. After the new policy was adopted, Asian American representation decreased to 54 percent, while Black and Hispanic representation increased from 1 to 7 percent and 3 to 11 percent, respectively.

Coalition for TJ sued the Fairfax County School Board last year, arguing that the new admissions policy was discriminatory against Asian American students.

U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in February sided with the group (pdf), and stopped the high school from using the admissions policy.

“It is clear that Asian-American students are disproportionately harmed by the Board’s decision to overhaul TJ admissions. Currently and in the future, Asian-American applicants are disproportionately deprived of a level playing field in competing for both allocated and unallocated seats,” Hilton wrote.

But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, put Hilton’s ruling on hold and said the policy could be used while litigation over the policy’s legality continues.

This prompted Coalition for TJ to file an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the appeals court stay. The Fairfax County School Board told the Supreme Court in response to the emergency application that the admissions policy of Thomas Jefferson isn’t trying to achieve “racial balancing.”

Coalition for TJ said in a statement Monday after the Supreme Court order: “We were hopeful that we would win this battle to vacate the stay in the highest court of the land, but our struggle for justice is not over. We are not at all dissuaded.”

“We are disappointed by today’s decision. Government cannot choose who receives the opportunity to attend public schools based on race or ethnicity,” Erin Wilcox, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents the Coalition for TJ, said in a statement. “We will continue to fight in the courts to end TJ’s discriminatory admissions policy for good.”

Fairfax schools’ division counsel John Foster said in a statement, reported WJLA: “We continue to believe our new plan for TJ admissions is merit-based and race-blind.

“We are confident that after considering the facts and the law, the appeals court will decide that our plan meets all the legal requirements and guarantees every qualified student will have the chance of being admitted to the finest public science and technology high school in the country.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.