The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will not hear a case challenging the admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, leaving in place a system that had cut Asian-American enrollment.

Analysts had seen the case as the next major frontier in affirmative action, with TJ relying on a geography-based approach to try to boost Black and Hispanic students at the highly selective school in northern Virginia. Opponents argued it was a proxy for race and discriminated against Asian-Americans.

The justices declined the case without giving a reason, as is their usual practice.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. penned a forceful dissent, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, chiding colleagues for failing to overturn “a patently incorrect” decision by a lower court that ruled in favor of TJ’s policy.

“The Court’s willingness to swallow the aberrant decision below is hard to understand. We should wipe the decision off the books,” Justice Alito wrote.

TJ updated its policy in 2020, amid the racial justice fervor that swept the country after George Floyd’s death in Minnesota at the hands of White police officers.

Worried over the high percentage of Asian-American students — it reached 73% in the class that entered in 2020 — the school’s principal demanded action and the Fairfax County School Board, which runs the school, rewrote its policy.

It tossed its old reliance on a standardized test and instead said it would allocate most of the seats among middle schools.

The effect was to boost White, Black and Hispanic enrollment, while slashing Asian-American students. They went from as much as 75% of admissions offers to just 54% under the new policy, Justice Alito said.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.