Today the Supreme Court refused to review Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, a case in which the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (“TJ”)—a selective high public school in Fairfax County, Virginia —used facially neutral means to to reduce the percentage of Asian students it admitted. In 2020, TJ adopted a new admissions policy that, while neutral on its face, was actually intended to reduce the percentage of Asian-American applicants accepted at the school, in order to increase the percentage of other groups, and get a student body closer to the population demographics of Fairfax County (which is about 19% Asian).
I criticized the Fourth Circuit appellate court opinion in this case here, analyzed the district ruling in favor of the plaintiffs here. While the Supreme Court will not be hearing this case, the issues it raises are almost certain to recur, and the justices will likely have to confront them eventually.
Before proceeding, I should note that my wife, Alison Somin, is one of the Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys representing the plaintiffs in this case (a group of parents of Asian-American applicants to TJ), on a pro bono basis. If you want to discount what I say…
More information can be found here
