Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, LatinoJustice, and BR File Amicus Brief Defending Equitable Admissions Plan for Boston’s Selective High Schools

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Brown Rudnick LLP filed an amicus brief joined by 14 prominent national and local organizations in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Boston’s School Committee as it defends an admissions plan to expand access to the city’s top-ranked “exam schools.”

In June 2022, the coalition filed its opening brief in the First Circuit, arguing that the Appeals Court should reverse the lower court’s judgment because the admissions plan had an alleged adverse impact on White and Asian American applicants to the Schools. In response, this amicus brief disputes the coalition’s claim that ZIP codes are a proxy for race in the admissions plan due to the increasingly multiethnic diversity within Boston’s neighborhoods, including within the Asian American community. The brief argues that the School Committee’s attention to equity in developing the admissions plan is grounded in Equal Protection jurisprudence. The brief also demonstrates that the coalition’s assertion of a disparate impact on White and Asian American students is flawed because the coalition improperly relies on the wrong comparator to assess impact.