WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Boston parents who alleged that a temporary entrance exam policy for the city’s elite high schools discriminated against white students and students of Asian descent.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from their colleagues’ decision to let lower court rulings stand in favor of the plan, which was used only once during the coronavirus pandemic. A third justice, Neil Gorsuch, said he was also troubled by the policy.
The Boston School Committee had temporarily canceled the entrance exam for Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy and O’Bryant School of Math and Science because it was not safe to administer the exams in person during the pandemic.
Instead, the committee used student performance and zip codes to weigh admissions.
A panel of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals said it would be in June 2023 Supreme Court ruling Taking down race-conscious college admissions policies hasn’t nullified Boston’s temporary policy.
Alito called the lower court’s ruling “a glaring constitutional error that threatens to perpetuate race-based affirmative action in defiance of” the Supreme Court’s decision last year.
Alito, joined by Thomas, wrote that it was clear to him that race “was paramount” when the commission adopted new policies.