A sharply divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held Tuesday that a Virginia public school’s admissions policy does not unconstitutionally discriminate against Asian American applicants.

In its 2-1 decision, the Fourth Circuit said Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology’s policy does not unfairly disadvantage Asian American applicants. The majority added that the Coalition for TJ, the local parent group challenging the policy, could not prove the Fairfax County School Board adopted it with discriminatory intent in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.