Odds are always long that the U.S. Supreme Court takes any particular case, but it’s unfortunate that a majority of justices last week opted not to hear the appeal of an appeals-court ruling on the admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology.
The case involved the ruling of a very senior and well-respected judge at the U.S. District Court level (who determined that Fairfax County Public Schools’ changes to its merit-based admissions policies violated federal law). His ruling was reversed based on the interpretation of two out of three judges sitting as a panel on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
School systems across the country were watching to see which way the wind was blowing, and given past Supreme Court rulings on admissions policies at the collegiate level, you’d have thought they might have taken the case in order to provide some further clarity on the matter.
But the justices opted to punt instead. Such is life.
