Supreme Court to Review Race in Maryland School Admissions

Source reports published 20 Oct 2026, 5:56 am – 10:00 am AEST

The US Supreme Court has agreed to review a case concerning the admissions policy for magnet middle schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. The court will consider whether a group challenging the policy needs to demonstrate a disproportionate impact on a racial group to prove discrimination.

What happened

• The Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments in Association for Education Fairness v. Montgomery County Board of Education.
• The case challenges the county’s magnet middle school admissions policy, which a group claims is unlawfully discriminatory.
• The court’s focus is on whether a challenger must demonstrate aggregate disparate impact relative to the applicant pool to prove racial discrimination.
• Lower courts previously dismissed the case, citing that Asian-American students were not underrepresented at the specialized schools compared to the applicant pool and finding no evidence of discriminatory intent.
• The Montgomery County school district’s admissions policy, known as the ‘Pandemic Plan,’ was introduced in 2021 and uses a screening process and lottery to assign students to enriched instruction.
• The suit alleges this process disadvantages Asian-American students clustered in high-performing elementary schools.
• The Supreme Court is expected to rule by June, considering whether a group claiming to be targeted by a race-neutral policy must show it was disproportionately harmed to prove intentional discrimination.

Original reporting

• Washington Examiner: Supreme Court to review racial discrimination case over Maryland school admissions policy
  2026-10-19T19:56:06+00:00
• Al Jazeera: US Supreme Court to hear case on race in school admissions
  2026-10-20T00:00:00+00:00