Dec 11, 2024 Story by: Editor
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Boston parents who argued that a temporary admissions policy for the city’s top-tier high schools discriminated against white and Asian American students.
The Boston School Committee had suspended the entrance exams for Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the O’Bryant School of Math and Science during the coronavirus pandemic, citing safety concerns with in-person testing. Instead, the admissions process relied on student performance and ZIP codes to allocate spots.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the court’s decision to let lower court rulings stand, which upheld the admissions policy. Justice Neil Gorsuch also expressed concerns about the approach.
A panel from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision striking down race-conscious college admissions did not invalidate Boston’s temporary policy.
Alito criticized the lower court’s decision, calling it “a glaring constitutional error that threatens to perpetuate race-based affirmative action in defiance of” last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
In his dissent, Alito, joined by Thomas, wrote that race was evidently “front and center” when the committee implemented the policy. Source: AP News
