Supreme Court Allows Elite High School’s New Admissions Rules
New York TimesJul 28, 2022
The Facts
In an unsigned order, SCOTUS has rejected an emergency request to block new admissions standards introduced by the Fairfax County Public School Board in Virginia.
In 2020, the school board eliminated the standardized test requirement for admission to the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology ("TJ"), a prestigious public magnet school.
The Spin
Conservative narrative
The Fairfax County School Board's new "woke" admissions policies are race-based and discriminatory, and they cannot be allowed to stand. Thankfully, conservative jurists are in charge on the nation's highest court, and once the full case is heard, they will no doubt overturn the policy.
Progressive narrative
TJ's new admissions criteria are entirely race-neutral. They set aside flawed standardized tests and allocate spots in the selective school for the top 1.5% of students from each public middle school in the area. It's a fair and equitable approach that should address some of the past injustices in the system.
Cynical narrative
The "Shadow Docket" strikes again. The judges on the US' highest court continue to rule by silent decree, without any hint of the legal justifications behind their decision-making. The trend towards secretive, emergency proceedings is harming the perception of law and order.