Justice Department Finds Duke Law School Discriminated by Race in Admissions; University Says It Is Reviewing Letter
The Facts
- The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced Thursday that it found Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated based on race in admitting its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes.
- The findings were set out in a six-page letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon to a lawyer for the university, which said the conduct violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision.
- The department alleged the school publicly presented its process as race-neutral while using other factors as substitutes for race, including personal essays about diversity and whether an applicant was a first-generation college student.
- The DOJ said its review found that a Black or Hispanic applicant had a substantially higher likelihood of admission than a white or Asian applicant with the same academic credentials, and cited statistical comparisons including LSAT scores.
- Duke said in a statement that it is reviewing the letter and is committed to complying with the law "in a manner that is consistent with our academic mission."
- The department said it is seeking a voluntary resolution agreement with the school; reporting noted it could sue if Duke does not change its admissions practices.
- The action follows similar Justice Department findings against medical schools at Yale and in the University of California system, and is described as the first law school the department has found in violation of the 2023 ruling.
- The Duke announcement came the same day the administration took action against other universities over issues including diversity policies and campus protests over the war in Gaza.
Context
What is the 2023 Supreme Court decision the Justice Department says Duke violated?
Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, decided in 2023, struck down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and sharply limited the consideration of race in college admissions Hill,Charlotte Observer,JoCo Report. The Trump administration has sought to enforce a strict interpretation of that ruling across higher education NYT,DNyuz.
What evidence did the department cite?
The letter cites internal communications and policy documents that the department says show an intent to preserve racial outcomes before and after the 2023 ruling, as well as application prompts asking candidates how they would advance the school's mission including a "diversity of perspectives and experience," and instructions for admissions reviewers to place "diversity/services" tags on applications theepochtimes.com,Inside Higher Ed | …,Duke Chronicle. The department also pointed to statistical comparisons of admitted and rejected applicants' credentials Charlotte Observer,Washington Times.
How did the investigation begin and what happens next?
The department said it acted under its authority to conduct compliance reviews of recipients of federal funding under Title VI, rather than in response to a specific complaint; a request for supplemental information went to Duke in December 2025 and a notice of investigation on April 18 CBS17.com. The department says it is now seeking a voluntary resolution agreement, and litigation is possible if the school does not change its practices Reuters,Charlotte Observer,news.bloomberglaw.c…. Duke has said only that it is reviewing the letter Independent,U.S. News & World R….
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Nobody disputes the mechanism at issue: diversity essays and first-generation status, not any stated racial preference — and that Duke now faces a real choice between agreement and suit.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about a binding Supreme Court ruling being routed around at the expense of equally credentialed applicants, or about federal leverage expanding across campuses to punish attention to who applicants are.
How left and right read it
The theory here is that essays about diversity and first-generation status count as illegal proxies for race — a standard that treats a school's attention to who applicants are as evidence of wrongdoing. This lands the same day the administration moved against other universities over diversity policies and Gaza protests, and it follows findings against Yale and University of California medical schools. As the Times put it, this is an "expanding" federal "crusade." Institutions should not trade away their academic mission to make that pressure stop.
“The Justice Department said Thursday that Duke University's law school had discriminated in admissions, expanding the Trump administration's crusade against institutions it contends illegally reject white and Asian students.” — The New York Times
The Civil Rights Division found that Duke Law intentionally discriminated by race across three incoming classes, presenting its process as race-neutral while using diversity essays and first-generation status as substitutes for race. The department's numbers say a Black or Hispanic applicant with the same LSAT credentials stood a substantially better chance than a white or Asian one. That is not a technicality. A Supreme Court ruling is law, not a hurdle to route around; take the voluntary resolution and admit applicants on their merits.
“While Duke said its admissions officers don't see racial data for applicants, DOJ said the school instructed the officers to try to spot other information in the applications that could be used to boost Black and Hispanic students.” — Washington Times
The receipts — all 24 sources
Wire services (6)
Independent coverage (18)
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