DOJ accuses Duke Law School of racial discrimination in admissions
The US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is accusing the Duke University Law School of intentional racial discrimination in admissions from 2023 to 2025.
“Duke Law’s discriminatory conduct violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin,” according to a DOJ news release Thursday. The release cites the US Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. That case, identified in the release as SFFA, “banned race discrimination in higher education.”
The DOJ outlined its concerns in a six-page letter signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Having determined that Duke Law deliberately discriminated on the basis of race in its decisions to admit and deny applicants, the Department seeks to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with the University to ensure that admissions practices are brought into legal compliance,” the letter concluded.
“Duke Law School doesn’t get a free pass to discriminate against white and Asian students simply because it thinks it has good intentions,” Dhillon said in the DOJ news release. “Using ‘diversity’ essay questions to identify preferred races for admission is still illegal discrimination based on race, and this Department is committed to eliminating it everywhere we find it, including in our nation’s law schools.”
After the 2023 Supreme Court decision, Duke Law “emphasized racial diversity in admissions and engaged in a deliberate effort to preserve race-based outcomes for its incoming classes,” according to the news release.
A revised mission statement expressed the school’s goal to “help build and sustain a dynamic legal profession that embodies a commitment” to a number of stated values, such as equal justice, public service, and a “diversity of perspective and experience,” according to the news release.
The school’s application included short-answer essay questions. Candidates explained how they would help Duke Law achieve its mission.
“Admissions reviewers were then instructed to ‘tag’ responses to these short answer questions,” according to the news release. “To capture answers related to ‘diversity of perspective and experience’ reviewers used the ‘Diversity/Services’ tag. Reviewers were also instructed to use tags to capture specific applicant characteristics that are commonly correlated with race, such as being a Pell grant recipient.”
“Thus, while Duke Law’s published policies assert that admissions reviewers did not see racial demographic data, Duke Law directed its admissions staff to highlight applicant information that could be used to advance Duke Law’s racial diversity goals,” according to the DOJ.
“As a result, a black or Hispanic applicant has a substantially higher likelihood of admission to Duke Law than a white or Asian applicant with the same academic credentials,” the federal government argued. “When qualifications are not similar, the result is starker: in 2024 and 2025, the median LSAT scores of rejected white and Asian applicants exceeded the median LSAT scores of admitted black applicants.”
Law schools receive federal financial assistance and are subject to federal nondiscrimination laws, according to the news release. “The Department will continue to monitor and ensure their compliance with Title VI and SFFA’s prohibition on race-conscious admissions,” the DOJ reported. “Where a violation has been found, the Department will engage in settlement negotiations to ensure the school’s admissions practices are brought into compliance. If those efforts fail, the Department will file suit.”
Carolina Journal has reached out to Duke Law School for a response to the DOJ’s accusation.
“DOJ accuses Duke Law School of racial discrimination in admissions” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.
