The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to admissions at selective public magnet schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. The case, Association for Education Fairness v. Montgomery County Board of Education, asks whether a plaintiff challenging a facially neutral admissions policy must show that the targeted group suffered an aggregate disparate impact relative to its share of the applicant pool.
The challengers, mostly Asian-American parents, argue that a policy adopted in 2021-22 was intended to reduce Asian-American enrollment, even though it does not mention race. That policy places all fifth graders meeting certain criteria into a pool and selects students by lottery. Lower courts dismissed the lawsuit, with a district judge noting that Asian-American students were admitted at rates substantially outpacing their share of applicants.
The school board urged the justices to stay out, calling the dispute unremarkable and noting that the policy increased Asian-American representation at two magnet schools. The parents cite the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, arguing that eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it. The Court will hear oral argument early next year.