Two conservative justices on the Supreme Court issued a sharp dissent Tuesday after the high court refused to hear a lawsuit challenging a Virginia high school admissions program that allegedly discriminates against Asian Americans. expressed.
A coalition of parents of students at Thomas Jefferson High School, one of the nation’s top high schools, has appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the Ivy League feeder imposes roundabout racial filtering methods on admissions. Supreme Court June 2023 Ruling on Affirmative Action in College Admissions. The case ruled that using race as a factor in college admissions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented Tuesday from the court’s dismissal, calling the lower court’s ruling in the case “patently inaccurate and dangerous.”
“Essentially, what the 4th Circuit majority argued is that intentional racial discrimination is constitutional unless it is too severe,” Alito wrote in a 10-page dissent. “This reasoning is indefensible and calls for correction.”
Supreme Court rejects affirmative action in ruling that considers race in college admissions decisions
Thomas Jefferson High School has been accused of racial discrimination in its admissions policies.
Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, serves as a strong pathway to the Ivy League. Current admission fees are $100 per application, and with an emphasis on standardized testing as a grading measure, parents in the region compete fiercely for spots.
The Fairfax County School Board is trying to address racial disparities among its students, particularly the underrepresentation of black and Hispanic students. The school does not explicitly filter by race, but instead uses regional quotas to guarantee admission to the top students at each middle school in the county. The school also factored in revenue into its calculations.
But the Coalition for TJ, a parent group represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, filed a lawsuit claiming the practice is unconstitutional and discriminates against Asian American students.
“Asian American students, many of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants, often view admission to TJ as a ticket to the American Dream,” Alito wrote in his dissent.
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Supreme Court of the United States. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
“In this regard, their aspirations mirror those of young people from other immigrant groups. Public magnet schools, with competitive admissions based on standardized tests, offer unique opportunities to minority and immigrant children. “Their subsequent careers have contributed greatly to the success of our country,” he continued.
Alito described the appeals court’s decision as “indefensible” in his view, reasoning that the school’s policy was designed solely to avoid liability while lowering offer rates for Asian Americans. He explained that this was because there was a possibility that the company could have adopted the
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Justice Samuel Alito wrote a 10-page dissent in the case against the Virginia high school. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times, via AP, Pool, File)
“The following cases effectively authorize public actors to discriminate against any racial group with impunity, so long as that group continues to outperform other groups,” he said. ” he said.
“The court’s willingness to accept the following extraordinary judgment is incomprehensible. We should erase this judgment from the books, but since the court refuses to do so, I respectfully disagree. No,” he said.
“The Supreme Court missed an important opportunity to end race-based discrimination in K-12 admissions,” said Joshua Thompson, senior attorney at the Pacific Law Foundation.
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“Discrimination against students based on race is not only morally wrong, but also a clear violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. Schools treat students as individuals, not as a group based on their racial identity. “It should be evaluated as such,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
