NYC mom files appeal challenging race-based school admissions
September 28, 2026
New York, New York; September 28, 2026: A New York City mother filed her opening brief on Friday in an expedited appeal challenging admissions rules at the City’s most competitive public high schools. Yi Fang Chen argues the rules deny her son equal protection under the law after he scored in roughly the 95th percentile on the City’s admissions exam and was still turned away from Stuyvesant High School.
“Yi Fang Chen’s son was denied a seat at Stuyvesant because the City turned a program meant to help economically disadvantaged students into a tool for racial engineering—one that actually excluded disadvantaged children throughout the city,” said Dean McGee, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “Equal protection means treating kids as individuals, not as demographic statistics.”
Under New York law, admission to the City’s Specialized High Schools must be based on a competitive entrance exam. In 2019, the City overhauled the program, requiring each school to reserve 20 percent of its seats for low-income students from only certain middle schools. The new criteria excluded otherwise-eligible disadvantaged children based on the middle school they attended—even if their own economic circumstances were qualifying. Nearly three-quarters of Asian American students in the city come from low-income families, but many attended schools that fell below that threshold.
Chen’s complaint alleges that these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause because the City deliberately chose eligibility criteria designed to reduce admissions for Asian American children.
The district court declined to halt the policy, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied an emergency injunction while the appeal proceeds. Chen has also asked the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency relief.
A ruling in Chen’s favor would allow her son to attend Stuyvesant as the case proceeds and would clarify that public schools cannot rewrite admissions criteria to manipulate the racial makeup of the student body.
Pacific Legal Foundation represents Chen free of charge. The case is Yi Fang Chen v. Zohran Mamdani.
Photography by Rick Wenner, Pacific Legal Foundation.
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About Pacific Legal Foundation
Pacific Legal Foundation is a national nonprofit law firm that defends Americans threatened by government overreach and abuse. Since our founding in 1973, we challenge the government when it violates individual liberty and constitutional rights. With active cases in 34 states plus Washington, D.C., PLF represents clients in state and federal courts, with 18 wins of 21 cases litigated at the U.S. Supreme Court.