Court Blocks Race-Based School Policy

By Mark Walsh

A federal appeals court last week struck down an affirmative action plan governing student admissions at the Boston Latin School, a prestigious public high school that has been at the center of the debate over racial preferences.

The ruling was the first by a federal appellate court stemming from a recent series of challenges to race-conscious admissions policies at selective public schools around the country.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit ruled 2-1 that there was no legal justification for the Boston district's policy of considering race for roughly half the admission slots at Boston Latin School and two other selective "exam...