U.S. Supreme Court Review Sought After Appeals Court Favors TJ Admissions Policy

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — After an appeals court ruled the new admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is not discriminatory, an opposed group wants to challenge it in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Coalition for TJ, a group that challenged the policy in a lawsuit, filed a petition through the Pacific Legal Foundation seeking a review of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit's ruling. The appeals court's ruling reversed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton that claimed Asian American students are "disproportionately harmed" by the new admissions policy at the school.

The Fairfax County School Board had sought the appeal after the federal judge's ruling.

According to the petition, the point of the case is to determine if the admissions policy violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The Pacific Legal Foundation noted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in higher education last term, but challenges to competitive K-12 programs admissions have not been addressed by the highest court.

"Discrimination against students based on their race is wrong and violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection," said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Erin Wilcox after the appeals court's ruling. "We look forward to asking the Supreme Court to end this illegal practice once and for all."

In light of the petition to the Supreme Court, a group that supports the TJ admissions policy denounced the Coalition for TJ's action. The groups who oppose the challenge to the admissions policy are the Virginia NAACP, Hamkae Center, Asian American Youth Leadership Empowerment and Development, CASA Virginia, Hispanic Federation, and TJ Alumni for Racial Justice. The groups believe the policy does not discriminate against Asian Americans and actually increased access for low-income Asian Americans and other underrepresented students.

Among the groups who want to keep the admissions policy are Asian American Lead and Asian American-focused Hamkae Center.

"Every parent wants to know their child will not be disadvantaged in our public education system no matter their personal wealth or language abilities," said Sookyung Oh, director of the Hamkae Center. "It is imperative that students from communities of color, including Asian Americans, will not be disadvantaged by an unfair admissions process and will have the same access to educational opportunities only previously afforded to those with the wealth and privilege to get their children into schools like TJ."

The Fairfax County School Board adopted the new admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in December 2020, aiming to remove barriers for underrepresented groups like Black and Hispanic students. The new admissions policy eliminated the admissions test and application fee, instead introducing a holistic review and raising the minimum grade point average. Students are reviewed on their grade point average, a portrait sheet demonstrating Portrait of a Graduate attributes and 21st century skills, a problem-solving essay, and experience factors such as being economically disadvantaged, English language learners, special education students, or students attending underrepresented middle schools.

The group challenging the new admissions policy believes it attempts to reduce the Asian American students admitted for the intent of racial balancing. In the class of 2025, the first class chosen under the new policy, Asian students still represented the majority of admitted students. However, the percentage fell from 73 percent to 54.36 percent.

Meanwhile, Black students made up 7.09 percent of the admitted class of 2025, compared to a "too small for reporting" number of 10 or less the previous year. Hispanic students made up 11.27 percent of accepted students, compared to 3.3 percent the previous year. White students admitted increased from 17.7 percent to 22.36 percent. For the class of 2026, Black students made up 5.82 percent of accepted students, Hispanic students made up 8.18 percent, and white students made up 21.27 percent.

The new policy also provides seats to 1.5 percent of applicants from each Fairfax County middle school. All Fairfax County public middle schools were represented in the first two classes chosen under the policy. Remaining seats may be offered to top applicants in participating school divisions, including Arlington County, City of Falls Church, Loudoun County and Prince William County.