Federal investigation into TJ admissions revives national concern over K–12 racial discrimination
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened a Title VI investigation into Thomas Jefferson High School’s admissions policy—a 2020 policy that parents, teachers, and alumni challenged in court as discriminatory in a case litigated for three years by Pacific Legal Foundation.
Last year the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Coalition for TJ case over strong objections from Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Justice Alito wrote that the Fourth Circuit’s prior ruling against the Coalition for TJ “works a grave injustice on diligent young people who yearn to make a better future for themselves, their families, and our society.”
The Department of Education’s announcement comes after a two-year investigation by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who spoke at a May 21 press conference.
Joshua Thompson, director of Equality and Opportunity Litigation at PLF, said when the Court declined to hear the Coalition for TJ case, it “missed an important opportunity to end race-based discrimination in K–12 admissions. Discrimination against students based on their race is not only ethically wrong but also a clear violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.”
This latest development—following a two-year investigation by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares—validates what parents and students at TJ have argued all along: that FCPS deliberately altered its admissions process to racially engineer the student body and reduce Asian American representation.
“The state and now federal investigation into TJ’s admissions policies shines a much-needed spotlight on school districts across the country that are keeping qualified kids out of some of our nation’s best public schools because of their race,” said Erin Wilcox, PLF senior attorney and lead litigator on the TJ case. “Hard work and talent—not skin color—should determine who is admitted to schools like TJ, Stuyvesant High School in New York City, or Boston Latin School in Boston. We look forward to continuing the fight for equality in public education to ensure that all students, regardless of race, have the educational opportunities they deserve.”
PLF remains committed to litigating cases like Coalition for TJ until the Supreme Court makes it clear that this kind of race-based discrimination is unconstitutional once and for all.
