Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 22-1280 · judgment May 23, 2023
Before the decision, about 4.9× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).
Question presented
In 2020, the Fairfax County School Board (Board) overhauled its admissions to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ). The Coalition for TJ, a group of parents and students within the school district, alleged that those changes were adopted to racially balance the freshman class by excluding Asian Americans. The district court agreed and granted summary judgment to the Coalition. Over a dissent by Judge Rushing, a panel of the Fourth Circuit reversed. Despite evidence that the Board chose the new criteria to further its racial balancing goal—and evidence that the policy substantially reduced both the raw number and the proportion of Asian Americans admitted—the Fourth Circuit held that the admissions changes did not violate the Equal Protection Clause. The question presented is whether the Board violated the Equal Protection Clause when it overhauled the admissions criteria at TJ.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Joshua Paul Thompson
Pacific Legal Foundation
For respondent
Donald B. Verrilli Jr.
Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 6 conferences
Amicus briefs
12 cert-stage
Argument & decision
Decided February 20, 2024.
Proceedings
- Feb 20 2024Petition DENIED. Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
- Feb 09 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/16/2024.
- Jan 16 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/19/2024.
- Jan 08 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/12/2024.
- Jan 02 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2024.
- Dec 01 2023Rescheduled.
- Dec 01 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/8/2023.
- Nov 08 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/1/2023.
- Nov 01 2023Reply of petitioner Coalition for TJ filed.
- Oct 23 2023Brief of respondent Fairfax County School Board in opposition filed.
- Sep 22 2023Brief amicus curiae of The Equal Protection Project filed.
- Sep 22 2023Brief amici curiae of The Asian American Coalition for Education, et al. filed.
- Sep 22 2023Brief amici curiae of Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York, et al. filed.
- Sep 22 2023Brief amici curiae of Advancing American Freedom, Inc., et al. filed.
- Sep 22 2023Brief amicus curiae of Fairfax County Parents Association filed.
- Sep 22 2023Brief amici curiae of Virginia, et al. filed.
- Sep 21 2023Brief amici curiae of Former Federal Officials of The Department of Education’s Office For Civil Rights filed.
- Sep 20 2023Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
- Sep 20 2023Brief amicus curiae of Center for Equal Opportunity filed.
- Sep 20 2023Brief amici curiae of American Civil Rights Project, et al. filed.
- Sep 20 2023Brief amici curiae of Liberty Justice Center and Momoko Takahashi filed.
- Sep 19 2023Brief amicus curiae of Southeastern Legal Foundation filed.
- Aug 31 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 23, 2023.
- Aug 29 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 22, 2023 to October 23, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 21 2023Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 22, 2023)