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Supreme Court to hear a new case on race and school admissions, this time in Maryland
NBC News • • nation
Key Points:
- The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to Montgomery County, Maryland's lottery-based admissions process for STEM and humanities magnet middle schools, which aims to promote diversity.
- The lawsuit, brought by the Association for Education Fairness, argues that the policy unfairly advantages Black and Latino students, violating the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.
- The case focuses on the technical question of what evidence is necessary to bring such a claim, rather than directly addressing the constitutionality of race-conscious admissions policies.
- The admissions lottery ranks students based on test performance relative to their school peers, a system introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which plaintiffs say disproportionately harms Asian students from high-performing schools.
- Lower courts have ruled in favor of the school district, but the Supreme Court's decision to hear the case reflects ongoing conservative concerns about schools circumventing previous rulings against race-based admissions policies.
