The Supreme Court has come under attack in recent years. But now it’s coming from within.
And Supreme Court Justice shocked all after turning on the Court.
The Supreme Court opted Monday not to take up a case challenging the affirmative action policy at three prominent Boston schools, but several justices signaled that the issue is far from resolved and will require the Court’s attention in the future.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. expressed concern, noting that this is the second instance in recent months where the Court has declined to hear a case involving high schools pushing the boundaries of affirmative action policies in light of last year’s landmark decision striking down race-based admissions practices.
The case stemmed from Boston’s decision to overhaul its admissions rules for the 2021-2022 school year.
The new approach aimed to boost Black and Hispanic enrollment at three elite high schools by shifting from a primarily grade and exam-based system to one prioritizing students from lower-income neighborhoods.
However, the policy’s development was clouded by controversial remarks from Boston officials, who derided “White racists,” mocked Asian American names, and explicitly stated their goal of increasing Black and Latino representation in the schools.
Justice Alito said such comments revealed a troubling bias.
“As the Committee members made ’explicit,’ they worked to decrease the number of white and Asian students at the exam schools in service of ’racial equity,’” he wrote. “That is racial balancing by another name and is undoubtedly unconstitutional.”
For the Supreme Court to take up a case, four justices must agree to hear it.
Justice Clarence Thomas joined Justice Alito in favoring a review. Meanwhile, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch raised concerns about Boston’s actions but argued the case wasn’t ready for Supreme Court consideration, as the city has since replaced the disputed policy.
However, Gorsuch cautioned lower courts against interpreting the refusal to hear the case as an endorsement of Boston’s geography-based admissions rules and encouraged scrutiny of the issues Alito highlighted.
Boston is one of many jurisdictions grappling with how to achieve diversity in selective schools following last year’s Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions.
That 6-3 ruling struck down race-based policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, with the Court declaring such preferences unconstitutional after exceeding their constitutional limits.
In response, several public school systems have turned to geography-based admissions policies to foster diversity.
Among them is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, whose policy also faced a legal challenge that the Supreme Court declined to hear earlier this year.
Justice Alito warned that the Court’s reluctance to intervene now does not signal approval.
“We have now twice refused to correct a glaring constitutional error that threatens to perpetuate race-based affirmative action in defiance of Students for Fair Admissions,” he wrote.
“I would reject root and branch this dangerously distorted view of disparate impact.”
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