Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts called for a response from a Virginia school system on Friday over a controversial admissions process at a magnet high school, which a parents’ coalition says should be overturned because it dilutes academic merit as a consideration.
Roberts was responding to an emergency application from the group, Coalition for TJ, to vacate a stay pending an appeal filed by Fairfax County Public Schools to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court ruled in a 2-to-1 order on March 31 that the policy at Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax, Virginia, could remain in place. The school’s policy aims to increase the number of black and Hispanic students attending the high school, which challengers say comes at the expense of a large number of Asian American students because it replaces the merit-based admissions at the school with a lottery-based system.
COURT REINSTATES VIRGINIA SCHOOL’S ADMISSIONS PLAN CRITICIZED AS DISCRIMINATORY
But a district judge ruled in February that the admissions process at the high school violated federal law by discriminating against Asian American students.
Through Roberts’s action, the school board has until Wednesday to present a response. After that, the chief justice will decide on the application, and one of his options includes the ability to refer the case to the full court.
Glenn E. Roper, an attorney representing Coalition for TJ, said “we’re very happy” with Roberts’s decision to call for a response from the school board. “We hope the court will take our application seriously and hopefully grant it so that the discriminatory policy won’t be enforced for this application season,” Roper added.
Parents of the group argued in its lawsuit that Asian Americans make up 70% of the student body at TJ, claiming they were unfairly targeted by the lottery-based admissions system.
The most recent freshman class was admitted under the new system and saw a stark demographic change from previous school years. The black student population rose from 1% to 7%, while Hispanic representation went from 3% to 11%. Asian American representation declined from 73% to 54%, according to the coalition.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In the fall Supreme Court term, justices are slated to hear arguments in a pair of cases related to race-based admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, which are accused of using similar race-based admissions policies that petitioners argue have disproportionately harmed Asian American applicants.
The Washington Examiner contacted Fairfax County Public Schools and the Coalition for TJ but did not immediately receive a response.
