Supreme Court Dismisses Boston School Admissions Case Challenging Racial Policy Adjustments

Supreme Court building with American flag flying.

The Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss a case challenging Boston’s school admissions policy leaves questions unanswered about race-based affirmative action in education.

At a Glance

  • Supreme Court rejects appeal from Boston parents over elite high school admissions policy
  • Temporary policy allegedly disadvantaged White and Asian students
  • Justices Alito and Thomas dissented, arguing the policy perpetuates race-based affirmative action
  • Case involved Boston’s prestigious exam schools and their pandemic-era admissions changes
  • Decision comes after recent Supreme Court ruling against race-conscious college admissions

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Boston School Admissions Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Boston parents challenging a temporary admissions policy for the city’s elite high schools. The policy, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, was claimed to discriminate against White and Asian students. This decision comes in the wake of the Court’s recent ruling against race-conscious admissions in colleges, raising questions about the future of affirmative action in education.

The case centered on Boston’s prestigious exam schools: Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. In 2020, these institutions suspended their traditional entrance exams due to pandemic-related safety concerns. Instead, they adopted a policy based on student grades and ZIP codes for admissions.

Controversial Policy and Legal Challenge

The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence sued the Boston School Committee in 2021, arguing that the new admissions criteria violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. They claimed the policy disproportionately reduced admissions for White and Asian students. Lower courts, however, ruled that the admissions criteria were racially neutral.

“The parents and students do not challenge Boston’s new policy, nor do they suggest that the city is simply biding its time, intent on reviving the old policy. Strictly speaking, those developments may not moot this case. But, to my mind, they greatly diminish the need for our review.” – Justice Neil Gorsuch

The Boston School Committee defended its position, arguing that the case was irrelevant as the policy was temporary and had ended before the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on affirmative action in college admissions. This decision, handed down in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, ruled that using race as a factor in college admissions violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

Dissenting Opinions and Ongoing Debate

While the majority of the Court declined to hear the case, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voiced strong opposition to this decision. They argued that the lower court’s ruling perpetuated race-based affirmative action, contrary to the Supreme Court’s recent stance on the matter.

“a glaring constitutional error that threatens to perpetuate race-based affirmative action in defiance of” – Alito

Justice Neil Gorsuch, while expressing concerns about the policy, stated that the Court did not need to hear the case since the policy had been revised. The temporary measure was in place for only one year and was replaced with a standardized testing plan for the 2022-2023 school year.

Implications for Future Education Policies

The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear this case leaves open questions about how lower courts should apply the recent ruling on race-conscious college admissions to K-12 education policies. It also highlights the ongoing debate about how to achieve diversity in elite educational institutions while adhering to constitutional principles of equal protection.

As schools across the nation grapple with these issues, the Boston case serves as a reminder of the complex interplay between educational policy, racial equity, and constitutional law. While this particular policy may no longer be in effect, the broader questions it raised about fairness and diversity in school admissions remain at the forefront of national education debates.

Sources:

  1. Supreme Court rejects Boston parents’ appeal claiming racial bias in an admissions policy
  2. Supreme Court rejects appeal from Boston parents over race bias in elite high school admissions
  3. Supreme Court rejects appeal from Boston parents over race bias in elite high school admissions
  4. Supreme Court rejects appeal from Boston parents over race bias in elite high school admissions

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR