{"id":2687918,"date":"2026-10-19T17:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T21:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T17:01:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T21:01:02","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS To Hear Disparate Impact, At-Home Distilling Ban Cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2687918&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:United_States_Supreme_Court_Building_columns.jpg\">dconvertini\/Wikimedia Commons\/<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/10\/19\/scotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=SCOTUS Takes Up Cases On Race and School Admissions, Federal At-Home Distilling Ban&#038;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/10\/19\/scotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=SCOTUS Takes Up Cases On Race and School Admissions, Federal At-Home Distilling Ban&#038;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/10\/19\/scotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/10\/19\/scotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=SCOTUS Takes Up Cases On Race and School Admissions, Federal At-Home Distilling Ban&#038;body=%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/10\/19\/scotus-takes-up-cases-on-race-and-school-admissions-federal-at-home-distilling-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\">                     <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); pfTrackEvent(&#039;SCOTUS Takes Up Cases On Race and School Admissions, Federal At-Home Distilling Ban&#039;); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &#038; Email\">                     <span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span>                     <\/a>                 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<div class=\"pf-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Supreme Court added to its 2026 docket on Monday two high-profile cases dealing with race and school admissions and a Reconstruction-era federal ban on at-home distilling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/orders\/courtorders\/101926zor_q8l1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">latest order list<\/a>, the high court revealed that it has agreed to take up and hear arguments in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/search.aspx?filename=\/docket\/docketfiles\/html\/public\/26-12.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Association for Education Fairness (AEF) v. Montgomery County Board of Education<\/a><\/em>, which deals with the subject of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/disparate-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disparate impact<\/a> in school admissions. As The Federalist\u2019s Breccan Thies previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/07\/23\/trump-admin-ends-obama-policies-that-forced-schools-to-discipline-based-on-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described<\/a>, \u201cDisparate impact theory posits that a neutrally applied policy or regulation can be technically discriminatory if it affects one group disproportionately compared to another.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3924637503\" class=\"d-flex justify-content-center fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 fdrlst__b89e9-entity-placement\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At issue in <em>AEF <\/em>is a magnet program run by the Maryland-based Montgomery County Public Schools. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/pacificlegal.org\/case\/afef-v-montgomery-county-public-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF)<\/a>, which is representing plaintiffs in the litigation, the program offers academically skilled students access to \u201chighly competitive programs at four middle schools \u2014 two of which are humanities-driven and two of which focus on STEM instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After hiring a consulting firm to recommend new \u201cequitable\u201d admissions standards to \u201cfix a perceived racial imbalance at magnet schools,\u201d MCPS purportedly adopted new rules that challengers allege have \u201ceffectively den[ied] admission to the highest-scoring Asian American children.\u201d The school district, PLF said, \u201ccannot unfairly target one racial group to achieve their preferred racial balance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In agreeing to hear the case, the Supreme Court has asked parties to file briefs addressing the question of whether plaintiffs \u201cchallenging a facially neutral admissions policy as racially discriminatory must establish that the targeted racial group suffered an aggregate disparate impact relative to its share of the applicant pool.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The high court\u2019s decision to take up the case comes several years after its <em>Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard<\/em> (2023) ruling, in which the majority <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/29\/scotus-rules-race-based-college-admissions-violate-the-14th-amendment-ending-affirmative-action\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">found<\/a> affirmative action in higher education to be unconstitutional. Such policies, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, \u201cunavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, [] lack meaningful end points,\u201d and \u201ccannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/search.aspx?filename=\/docket\/docketfiles\/html\/public\/26-204.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Department of Justice v. McNutt<\/a><\/em>, the Supreme Court will weigh a Reconstruction-era federal prohibition on Americans\u2019 ability to distill alcohol at their homes. The challenge was originally <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/appellate-courts\/ca5\/24-10760\/24-10760-2026-04-10.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brought<\/a> by several citizens and a pro-distilling organization who \u201chad experience with lawful alcohol production for fuel or other beverages [and] expressed clear intent to distill spirits for personal consumption at or near their residences,\u201d according to Justia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/cases\/department-of-justice-v-mcnutt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decide<\/a> whether the federal prohibition on at-home distilling, as specified under the contested law, \u201cis necessary and proper for carrying into execution Congress\u2019s enumerated power to lay and collect taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neither <em>AEF<\/em> nor <em>McNutt<\/em> has been scheduled for oral argument as of this article\u2019s publication. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Shawn Fleetwood<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShawnFleetwood\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@ShawnFleetwood<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/shawnfleetwood\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags no-print bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/alcohol\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Alcohol<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/disparate-impact\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">disparate impact<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/home-distilling\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">home distilling<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/race\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Race<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/race-based-admissions\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">race-based admissions<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/racial-discrimination\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Racial Discrimination<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/scotus\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">SCOTUS<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/students-for-fair-admissions-v-harvard\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Supreme Court<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image Credit dconvertini\/Wikimedia Commons\/CC BY-SA 2.0 Share Share Article on Facebook Share Article on Twitter Share Article on Truth Social Copy Article Link Share Article via Email The U.S. Supreme Court added to its 2026 docket on Monday two high-profile cases dealing with race and school admissions and a Reconstruction-era federal ban on at-home distilling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2687919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SCOTUS-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2687918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SCOTUS-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2687918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2687919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2687918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2687918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2687918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}