The U.S. Supreme Court could decide as early as next month whether to hear the appeal of a federal court ruling that upheld Kamehameha Schools' Hawaiians-first admission policy.

Eric Grant, a Sacramento lawyer representing an unnamed non-Hawaiian teenager challenging the policy, filed this week his response to Kamehameha Schools' legal arguments.

The school is urging the high court to reject the appeal, but Grant said in his 10-page response that Kamehameha Schools earlier portrayed the case as presenting issues of "exceptional importance" in trying to get a larger panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case.

The high court accepts only a small faction of the requests by lawyers to review lower court decisions. One standard that the justices consider is whether a case has nationwide significance.

Grant said the papers filed in the case will be circulated for the justices' consideration at their conference on April 13. Barring a postponement, the high court's decision could be released April 16, Grant said.

The case revolves around the issue of whether the school's admissions policy violates federal civil rights law. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the policy violated the law. But at the request of Kamehameha Schools, the court reheard the case with a larger "en banc" panel of 15 judges. In December, the larger court ruled 8-7 that the federal law was not violated.

Grant contends the admissions policy violates the law and wants the high court to hear an appeal of the 8-7 ruling.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.