Pacific Legal Foundation Logo
Home / What We Fight For / Equality and Opportunity /
Donate

Racially discriminatory policies are insidious and just the latest iteration of the long-rejected idea that race and sex ought to determine opportunity in America. All men are created equal, and every person is guaranteed equal protection of the laws.

 

As Chief Justice John Roberts rightly said, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

Pacific Legal Foundation fights to ensure that students aren’t denied a quality education because of their race or sex.

foreclosure

Pacific Legal Foundation fights to ensure that students aren’t denied a quality education because of their race or sex.

Of Note

Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York v. Adams

Victory at the Second Circuit in NYC admissions case

New York City’s Specialized High Schools are some of the best public schools in the nation: They boast Nobel Laureates, writers, astronauts, entrepreneurs, and musicians among their alumni. But in 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the schools “a monumental injustice” because of their “diversity problem.” His administration revised the admissions criteria to favor certain middle schools—thereby increasing black and Hispanic enrollment while decreasing Asian enrollment. New York parents sued, with Pacific Legal Foundation’s help. In 2024, after nearly six years of litigation, we won an initial victory: The Second Circuit ruled the plaintiffs had successfully shown the discriminatory effects of the new admissions policy. Litigation now continues on whether the city had discriminatory intent.

Read more.

Home equity theft

“All men are created equal” is the American ideal that promises the government will treat each individual equally.

  • After decades of slavery and a Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed all Americans “equal protection of the laws.” But the Supreme Court took another 75 years to recognize that “separate is inherently unequal,” and even after that, schoolhouse doors were blockaded for students of the wrong color. It took civil rights laws, the federal courts, and untold thousands of freedom fighters to end the reign of the segregationists.
  • Today, however, public schools are reintroducing race-based policies designed to admit or deny students’ educational opportunities based on their race. Often undertaken in the name of diversity or equity, school districts are designing admissions policies to reach the right “balance” of races in school.

But schools across the country are implementing discriminatory policies.

Attorneys

Chris Kieser

Senior Attorney

Erin Wilcox

Attorney

Glenn E. Roper

Senior Attorney

Joshua P. Thompson

Director of Equality and Opportunity Litigation

Cases

August 9, 2024

Reason: California School Punishes First-Grader for a Drawing, Sparking Federal Lawsuit

The First Amendment case about a first-grader’s free speech rights is headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

July 25, 2024

ABA Journal: Punishing first grader for 'Black Lives Mater' drawing violates First Amendment, appeal argues

A California school district violated the First Amendment when it punished a first grader who drew a picture for her friend with the phrases “Black Lives Mater” and “any life” written on it, the P…

May 9, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

The Dispatch: How competitive high schools get away with race-based admissions

Boston’s school board did not try to disguise its racial motivations.

February 26, 2024

My son was rejected from Thomas Jefferson High School. The Supreme Court should have heard our case

I struggled to create a teachable moment out of my eldest son’s rejection from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

February 21, 2024 | By JOHN SWEENEY

Supreme Court won’t review admissions at Va.’s Thomas Jefferson school

The Supreme Court will not review a challenge to the admissions system for a prestigious Northern Virginia magnet school, ending a years-long legal battle in the case and signaling a majority of justi…

February 20, 2024

Supreme Court Won’t Hear New Case on Race and School Admissions

The decision, along with an order this month declining to block West Point’s admissions program, suggests that most justices are not eager to immediately explore the limits of its ruling from June.

February 20, 2023

Supreme Court allows 'race neutral' Virginia high school admissions policy that bolsters diversity

The Supreme Court on Tuesday avoided another contentious debate over race and education by turning away a challenge to an admissions policy aimed at encouraging diversity at a Virginia high school.