Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action, tees up fight over proxy discrimination

Washington, DC; June 29, 2023: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Students for Fair Admissions’ fight to eliminate racial discrimination from college admissions. Pacific Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief on behalf of its clients, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY) and Coalition for TJ (among other groups), in support of equality before the law.

“The Court’s decision today vindicates the principle of equality before the law and has made it unmistakably clear that racial discrimination is wrong and has no place in education,” said Joshua Thompson, director of equality and opportunity litigation at Pacific Legal Foundation. “All individuals should be judged on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.”

Yet the fight for race-blind admissions will persist, as universities are expected to pivot to “proxy discrimination,” using facially race-neutral factors to achieve desired racial outcomes.

Pacific Legal Foundation has increasingly seen proxy discrimination in admissions for competitive K-12 schools. Last month, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s ruling in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, which had successfully challenged Thomas Jefferson High School’s admissions process that was designed to reduce the number of Asian American students admitted to TJ.

PLF will be filing a petition for certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming months, which the Justices could take up to prevent universities and secondary schools from circumventing the demands of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Court’s opinion today.