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A Virginia parent and former PTA president who openly criticized what he categorized as race-based admissions at an elite public high school was delivered a win Friday after four criminal charges were dropped.
Dr. Harry Jackson, a father and former naval intelligence officer, opposed the policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria that based admissions more on race and less on merit. Steve Descano, a Democratic prosecutor backed by billionaire George Soros, pursued criminal charges of libel and slander with prejudice against Jackson over tweets published in 2020.
Jackson, also a professor at numerous other universities and the African American Community Liaison for Fairfax GOP, had accused liberal activist Jorge Torrico of “grooming” behavior.
Torrico, a member of the TJ Alumni Action Group, which supported the elimination of standardized testing and written teacher recommendation requirements for admission to the magnet school, was spotted speaking with a high school senior and student government president after a PTA meeting. Jackson took issue with Torrico allegedly seeking meetings and other outings with minors without parents present.
This photo shows Fairfax County Public Schools Monday, March 4, 2019, in Merrifield, Va. A federal appeals court has granted a request from a Virginia school system to continue using a challenged admissions policy while it appeals a ruling that found it discriminates against Asian American students.
((AP Photo/Matthew Barakat))
“I would like to stress this point—what makes this case unique is that criminal charges were brought to suppress free speech. Criminal charges! Not a civil lawsuit but criminal charges,” RightDefense.org attorney Marina Medvin, recently retained to represent Jackson, told Newsweek Friday.
“In this day and age, I believe it is the only case of its kind,” Medvin continued. “This should never have happened. But a magistrate allowed it to happen—four times. And then a Soros-funded prosecutor allowed an innocent man to be criminally prosecuted for the duration of seven months.”
Newsweek reported that Descano aimed at dropping prosecution, but Medvin sought to have the charge dismissed by a Fairfax County judge in order to “restore the public’s trust in the First Amendment.”
The separate but related case involving the school admissions policy, which a federal judge previously ruled as discriminatory against Asian Americans, is also piquing the interest of the Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ruled in February that even the school’s amended admissions policy still equated to “racial balancing,” but a three-judge 4th Circuit appeals panel decided on March 31 that the school can temporarily continue to use the policy. A coalition of community members, parents and alumni filed an emergency request to vacate the stay pending an appeal filed by the school system.
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U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday called for a response from Fairfax County Public Schools, which has until Wednesday to present its arguments. Roberts will then decide on the application, which could include referring the case to the full court, according to Fox 5 DC.
