US Supreme Court to hear case on race in school admissions
A group of parents claims local admission policy boosts Black and Latino students while constraining Asian applicants.
Key points
- The US Supreme Court will hear a case on race in admissions at four Maryland magnet schools.
- Parents claim the lottery-based policy favours Black and Latino students over Asian students.
- Lower courts dismissed the case, finding no evidence of discriminatory intent.
The US Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a case about the role of race in admissions at four academically rigorous magnet middle schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC. A parent group, the Association for Education Fairness, claims the district's policies discriminated against Asian students in favour of Black and Latino students.
The justices said they would weigh whether the parent group has enough evidence of discrimination for the case to move forward. Arguments are expected in the coming months, with a ruling by June.
How the admissions process works
The district introduced its selection process in the 2021-2022 school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. It screens all students for academic potential, then uses a lottery to randomly assign students from that pool to enriched instruction at a magnet school or a local school.
The suit alleged the screening makes it harder for Asian-American students, who the challengers said are clustered in "high-performing, low-poverty elementary schools", to enter the lottery pool. Part of the process compares a student's test scores with those of students from families with similar incomes.
The Pandemic Plan is a colorblind lottery.
— lawyers for the Montgomery County school system
Earlier rulings and the schools' defence
Lower courts dismissed the case because Asian-American students were not underrepresented at the schools compared with the applicant pool. US District Judge Paula Xinis threw out the case in 2022, noting the share of admitted Asian-American students exceeded their share of all applicants, and found no evidence of discriminatory intent.
The school system has argued the policy, called the "Pandemic Plan" because of when it was released, is race-neutral. Lawyers wrote in a brief asking the court not to take the case: "The Pandemic Plan is a colorblind lottery." If the Supreme Court rules for the parent group, it could revive the lawsuit.
