Sept. 10 (UPI) — The Justice Department is accusing the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, of unlawfully using race to discriminate against White and Asian applicants, the latest finding in the Trump administration’s investigations seeking to root out race-based admissions practices at institutions of higher education.
More than two dozen investigations into the admissions practices at some of the nation’s leading universities, medical schools and law schools have been launched by the Trump administration under President Donald Trump’s Jan. 21, 2025, executive order aimed at “ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity,” one of several anti-diversity, equity and inclusion directives from the White House.
The investigations’ legal foundation is the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that restricted race-conscious admissions practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
The Justice Department initiated a compliance review of UC Berkeley on March 27, 2025, and expanded it to Berkeley Law on April 18. In its findings made public Wednesday, the department said the school had violated Title VI, accusing it of discriminating against Asian and White applicants based on race when selecting its incoming classes of 2024 and 2025.
Its report states that Berkeley Law used essays as a “backdoor” to solicit applicants’ racial demographics by asking them to explain how they will contribute to the “diversity in our classrooms and community.” It also pointed to a form asking them to indicate their primary identity if they would feel more supported when grouped with other students who share the same background.
As evidence that race affected admissions, the Justice Department said that in 2025, Black applicants had 5.8 times greater odds of admission than comparable White applicants. It added that in 2024 and 2025 combined, half of admitted Black applicants had LSAT scores below those of 95% of admitted White applicants, while more than a one-third scored below 99% of admitted White applicants. Overall, it said the median LSAT score for admitted Black applicants was about five points lower than for White or Asian applicants.
The Justice Department is accusing the school of deliberately trying to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling and is seeking to enter a voluntary resolution agreement with the university to ensure that its admissions practices are brought into legal compliance.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Berkeley Law’s actions demonstrated “a complete disregard for the rule of law.”
“The department will continue to aggressively pursue compliance from schools who attempt to racially manipulate their student bodies in violation of federal law,” she said in a statement.
Berkeley rejected the accusations, telling media in a statement that it will “spare no effort to provide ample evidence showing that the university complies with all relevant laws, policies and rules governing admissions.”
“Berkeley is committed to ensuring that every student is admitted based on their merit, and not on their race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin,” it said.
The Justice Department has announced findings against seven university professional schools, including UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine, UC San Diego School of Medicine, Duke University School of Law, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Berkeley Law.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.