Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
In this Essay, I illustrate how Asian Americans' positioning intersected with litigation strategy and constitutional issues in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board-an important recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that deals with race-neutral public magnet school admissions policies. Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-conscious university admissions in 2023, magnet school admissions have become the next constitutional battleground for diversity in education. The Supreme Court has thus far denied certiorari in two cases involving magnet school admissions, over dissents by Justice Samuel Alito. Nevertheless, these cases present significant disputed constitutional issues, and the Court is likely to hear one of the cases at some point. My focus here is to explicate the role of animus towards Asian American achievement ("anti-Asian animus") in the magnet school cases and elite K-12 schooling more generally-an issue that all parties involved have neglected in various ways. I consider how the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) litigated Coalition for TJ strategically, seeking to change equal protection doctrine and partly de-emphasizing anti- Asian animus for that end. I examine the court rulings in Coalition for TJ, arguing that while the Fourth Circuit's judgment was ultimately correct, its analysis of disparate impact and discriminatory purpose was flawed in a manner that allows anti-Asian animus to go unaddressed. On that latter point, I am in rare agreement with Justice Alito. I offer an alternative resolution to the case that addresses these issues. I then argue that progressive supporters of racial diversity and equity in education have particularly neglected to address hostility towards Asian American achievement. I show that in various forms, anti-Asian animus is prevalent within magnet school admissions controversies and in K-12 education more generally. Because progressives have ignored such anti-Asian animus, conservatives have captured the narrative on it-a development that has political consequences. My aim is to convince progressives to take anti-Asian animus more seriously, even as they support the admissions reforms that Asian American plaintiffs in several cases have challenged.
Publication Title
California Law Review
Volume
113
First Page
939
Keywords
Anti-Asian Animus, Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, magnet school admissions
Recommended Citation
Vinay Harpalani,
Missing the Trees for the Forest: How Progressives Neglect Anti-Asian Animus in Magnet School Admissions Controversies,
113
California Law Review
939
(2025).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_facultyscholarship/986