Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge to Admission Policy for Elite Boston Schools

Two justices dissented, saying the high court’s ruling contradicts its decision last year striking down affirmative action in college admissions.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in Washington on April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool via Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Dec. 9 that it won’t consider whether three Boston public schools violated the Constitution with a purported racial diversity policy that admitted students based on their ZIP codes.

The new decision was made after the court’s landmark ruling in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. Harvard struck down the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies at U.S. colleges. After that ruling, schools began using supposedly racial-neutral admission policies based on factors such as geography to attempt to make student bodies more diverse.