SCOTUS Fails to Address Racial Preferences in High School Admissions

Nearly eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education, it has refused to extend the ban to K-12 schools.

Today the SCOTUS justices refused to review the admissions policy at Virginia’s prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ), a policy which critics say discriminates against Asian Americans.

Ambassadors with the Project 21 black leadership network — which notably joined a legal brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a parents’ lawsuit against the school board overseeing TJ, and which also criticized TJ’s admissions policy in Project 21’s “Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America” — are expressing disappointment with the Court for this missed opportunity.

Horace Cooper

Horace Cooper, Project 21 Chairman:

Sadly the Court missed an opportunity to reaffirm a bedrock principle — that educational institutions may not favor or disfavor students on the basis of race.

It doesn’t matter whether those injured by racist policies are Asians or whites — discrimination is discrimination.”

Melanie Collette

Melanie Collette, Project 21 Ambassador:

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas hit the nail on the head with their dissent. The decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is not just wrong; it’s a dangerous precedent that could embolden officials to discriminate against any racial group under the guise of diversity. Alito rightly pointed out that this kind of ruling gives a green light to officials to discriminate with impunity as long as certain groups continue to perform well academically.

What’s particularly troubling is the apparent disregard for individual merit and the embrace of group-based stereotyping in the admissions process. Schools should evaluate students based on their unique abilities and achievements, not their racial identity. By allowing policies like these to stand, we’re not only failing to uphold the principles of equal opportunity, but we’re also perpetuating harmful stereotypes and divisions within our society.

Terris Todd

Terris Todd, Project 21 Ambassador:

Unfortunately the Court, as a standard bearer of justice, may have signaled a repeat of the stain on American history in our institutions of learning not being based on merit, but discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.