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Southeastern Legal Foundation

Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board

SLF Fights Unconstitutional Admissions Policy

About the Case

Thomas Jefferson High School (“TJ”) is a magnet school in Fairfax County, Virginia that is consistently ranked one of the best public high schools in the nation. Due to its high caliber, students in the surrounding area must apply for admission.

But following racial unrest in the summer of 2020, the Fairfax County school board abruptly changed TJ’s admissions policy. It reasoned that TJ needed to be more “diverse” and accept more “underrepresented” students. But the student body was already over 70% Asian-American. The board made it clear that when it talked about increasing admissions for “underrepresented” students, it really meant admitting more black and Hispanic students and decreasing the number of enrolled Asian-American students. Now, parents represented by Pacific Legal Foundation are fighting back and suing the county for racial discrimination.

Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States Supreme Court urging the Court to take up the case because it is unconstitutional for schools to group students by race to achieve a certain racial makeup among their student body.

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Knowing that it is plainly unconstitutional to adopt a race-based quota in its admissions policy, the Fairfax County school board adopted an admissions policy that seems race-neutral on its face. But in reality, the policy achieved exactly what the board members wanted: an increase in representation of some races among the student body, and a decrease in Asian-American students. As SLF wrote in its brief, this is called racial balancing, and it violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

Case Status

Amicus Brief

Court

United States Supreme Court

Why This Matters

The government cannot engage in social experiments to achieve outcomes it deems desirable. But through the practice of racial balancing, where schools admit and reject applicants based on race with the goal of achieving a more “diverse” student body, the government uses its power to do just that.

The Equal Protection Clause prohibits the government from sorting individuals by race under any circumstance. Hiding behind goals like diversity, equity, and underrepresentation does not change the fact that the practice of grouping individuals into racial categories violates the Constitution. Schools like TJ cannot declare that it is better to admit more students of one race, and fewer students of another race, and expect courts to look the other way.

As SLF Attorney and Director of the 1A Project Cece O’Leary explains:

“Brown v. Board of Education established nearly seventy years ago that schools cannot sort students by race. Hiding behind buzz words like ‘diversity’ and ‘underrepresentation’ does not make racial balancing any more constitutional just because it sounds nice.”

In the News

Battle over TJHSST admissions heads to the U.S. Supreme Court (Fairfax County Times)

Supreme Court asked to hear Thomas Jefferson High School admissions case (The Washington Post)

Race-neutral admissions are next in line of fire after affirmative action ruling (The Guardian)

Why This Matters

The government cannot engage in social experiments to achieve outcomes it deems desirable. But through the practice of racial balancing, where schools admit and reject applicants based on race with the goal of achieving a more “diverse” student body, the government uses its power to do just that.

The Equal Protection Clause prohibits the government from sorting individuals by race under any circumstance. Hiding behind goals like diversity, equity, and underrepresentation does not change the fact that the practice of grouping individuals into racial categories violates the Constitution. Schools like TJ cannot declare that it is better to admit more students of one race, and fewer students of another race, and expect courts to look the other way.

As SLF Attorney and Director of the 1A Project Cece O’Leary explains:

“Brown v. Board of Education established nearly seventy years ago that schools cannot sort students by race. Hiding behind buzz words like ‘diversity’ and ‘underrepresentation’ does not make racial balancing any more constitutional just because it sounds nice.”

In the News

Battle over TJHSST admissions heads to the U.S. Supreme Court (Fairfax County Times)

Supreme Court asked to hear Thomas Jefferson High School admissions case (The Washington Post)

Race-neutral admissions are next in line of fire after affirmative action ruling (The Guardian)

Case Documents

SLF Fourth Circuit Amicus Brief Supporting Coalition for TJ (June 20, 2022)

Coalition for TJ Supreme Court Petition (Aug. 21, 2023)

SLF Amicus Brief Supporting Petition (Sept. 19, 2023)

News Releases

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