On Tuesday, Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares (R-Va.) announced that he would be leading 15 other states in filing an emergency application with the Supreme Court to end race-based admissions in public high schools.
As reported by Fox News, Miyares’ efforts are focusing specifically on the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHS), an elite public high school in Fairfax County. Miyares declared that the policy, designed specifically to reduce the number of Asian-Americans who attend the school, is “discriminatory” and “illegal.” Asians currently make up nearly 70 percent of the student body at TJHS.
“Right now, there are innocent Virginians unfairly treated and punished not for anything they’ve done, but because of who they are,” said Miyares in a statement. “Thomas Jefferson High School’s new admissions process is state sanctioned bigotry – it’s wrong, and it’s the exact opposite of equality. As Attorney General, I’ll never stop fighting for the equal treatment and protection of all Virginians.”
In February, U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ruled that the policy was discriminatory, as it constituted “racial balancing,” and thus issued an injunction ordering the Fairfax County School Board to block any further enforcement of the policy. However, a three-judge panel at the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the school board could temporarily continue with the policy while the case proceeds.
Miyares’ emergency request, filed on behalf of a coalition of Fairfax residents united in opposition to the policy known as “Coalition for TJ,” was signed on to by 15 other states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.