The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging admissions policies at four selective magnet schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. The parent group Association for Education Fairness contends that the district’s selection process, implemented during the 2021-2022 school year, discriminates against Asian American applicants in favor of Black and Latino students, despite being framed as race-neutral.
The school district’s admissions system screens all students for academic potential and then uses a lottery to randomly assign qualified students to either magnet schools or local schools. The process includes comparing individual student test scores against those of peers with similar family income levels. The plaintiffs argue this methodology disadvantages Asian American students, who they claim are concentrated in high-performing, low-poverty elementary schools, making it harder for them to enter the lottery pool.
Lower courts previously dismissed the case, with a US District Judge determining that the percentage of admitted Asian American students exceeded their proportion among all applicants. The judge also found no evidence the lottery was implemented with discriminatory intent. The school district maintains its admissions policy, called the “Pandemic Plan,” is race-neutral and constitutional.
The central legal question before the Supreme Court involves whether plaintiffs claiming harm from a ostensibly race-neutral policy must demonstrate they were disproportionately affected to establish intentional discrimination. The court is expected to hear arguments in the coming months and issue a ruling by June.
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