Lawsuit challenges HS admission challenge on "prextextual" grounds, the first time affirmative action has been challenged in that way
Last week, a group of primarily Asian-American parents filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of new admissions policies at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Fairfax, Virginia. The case could end up setting an important precedent: While there are many such pretextual discrimination rulings in cases involving traditional racial discrimination against minorities, we have not yet had a significant decision in a case where the challenged pretextual policy is an "affirmative action" seeking to promote "diversity" or racial balancing. The TJ case might fill that gap. And it could open the door to challenges to similar pretextually motivated policies, such as the Texas "Top Ten Percent Plan."