Supreme Court to hear a new case on race and school admissions, this time in Maryland

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a new challenge to school admissions policies aimed at fostering diversity, taking up a case targeting a lottery-based process for magnet programs in a Maryland county.

The court agreed to take up an appeal brought by the Association for Education Fairness seeking to revive a lawsuit it filed against the Montgomery County Board of Education. Montgomery County is a large and diverse county in the suburbs of Washington.

The challengers argue that a policy in Montgomery County's STEM and humanities magnet schools unfairly elevates Black and Latino students for admission in violation of the 14th Amendment. In 2023, the Supreme Court cited the same amendment in striking down the use of race in college admissions. But this case is narrower, asking the justices to decide a more technical question of what evidence challengers need to bring such a claim, so the court is not poised to issue a ruling on the constitutional issue.

The policy in question concerns a group of four middle schools with magnet programs.

The current programs are entered via lottery, a system introduced during the Covid pandemic. Entry to the lottery is based on how well students perform on tests when ranked against others in their schools, which the plaintiffs say adversely affects Asian students in high-performing schools. The challengers have targeted that process, as well as one first introduced in 2017 (which has been discontinued) that sought to increase enrollment of children in low-poverty areas.

That program, sparked by a report that said Black and Latino students were underrepresented and Asian students overrepresented in the middle school magnet programs in Montgomery County schools, included outreach to students and a cognitive test.

The plaintiffs say both programs were explicitly aimed at increasing Black and Latino enrollment, thereby violating the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

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Since the court’s 2023 decision, conservatives, including members of the court, have accused colleges and schools of trying to circumvent the ruling by introducing new admissions policies that have the same purpose but do not explicitly consider race as a factor.

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Similar cases reached the court, but the justices declined to take them up.

A federal judge in Maryland and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled in favor of the school district.

It’s the second time in recent years the court has heard a case challenging policies in Montgomery County Public Schools. Last year, the court ruled in favor of parents who objected on religious grounds to LGBTQ-themed books approved for use in elementary school classrooms.