Supreme Court to hear case from parents claiming MCPS middle school magnet discrimination

[Maryam Shahzad]

April 22, 2025 – Supreme Court hears Mahmoud v. Taylor


The Supreme Court will hear a case alleging Montgomery County Public Schools discriminates against Asian American students in middle school magnet program admissions, per the law firm representing parents who brought the case.

The case — initiated by a group of mostly Asian American parents — argues that Montgomery County Public Schools disadvantages Asian American students and violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection, according to a spokesperson for Pacific Legal Foundation.

The case, Association for Education Fairness (AFEF) v. Montgomery County Board of Education, will clarify whether families alleging intentional racial discrimination must clear a statistical threshold before a judge will consider evidence, according to a spokesperson with Pacific Legal Foundation.

“The Constitution protects students as individuals, not as members of a racial group,” said Chris Kieser, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a written statement. “A school district should not be able to defeat a discrimination claim by showing that its policy did not harm enough Asian American children. Every family deserves admissions rules that judge their child on their own merit.”

In a written statement to MCM, an MCPS spokesperson said, “Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition filed by the Association for Education Fairness (AFEF). At this stage, the Supreme Court is not evaluating the specific details of MCPS’s magnet programs. Rather, the Court will address a purely legal question and decide what plaintiffs who challenge race-neutral admissions criteria on their face must establish to demonstrate discrimination. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) remains committed to providing equitable access to rigorous opportunities for all students. This commitment will continue uninterrupted as the judicial process proceeds.”

According to the law firm, after MCPS hired a consulting firm in 2015 to find ways to make academic programs more equitable, changes have denied admission “to the highest-scoring Asian American children”. The result – a reduction in Asian American enrollment in magnet middle schools.

MCPS has four countywide magnet middle schools: Eastern and Martin Luther King, Jr middle schools have a humanities/communications program. Roberto Clemente and Takoma Park middle schools have a math, science and computer science program. According to MCPS, the programs are criteria-based with placement by lottery. There is a fifth grade “central review process” to look at students’ performance data in December. Students who meet the criteria for accelerated instruction in middle school are then placed in the candidate pool for one or both of the magnet programs.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision by June 2027, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation spokesperson.

MCPS was in front of the Supreme Court last year for a case brought by another group of parents who wanted to opt their kids out of LGBTQ+ storybooks in schools. The parents won the case.

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