DOJ accuses Duke law school of favoring Black applicants over white and Asian ones

On Thursday, the Justice Department accused Duke University's law school of unlawfully favoring Black applicants over white and Asian ones in its admissions process. In a findings letter, the department alleged that administrators claimed to be race-neutral while using factors like personal essays and first-generation college status as proxies for race.

Duke school officials stated they were reviewing the letter and committed to adhering to the law. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division emphasized that using "diversity" essay questions to favor certain races for admissions is still illegal discrimination based on race. The 2023 Supreme Court ruling made affirmative action in college admissions illegal, but the Trump administration accused colleges of using proxies to maintain racial diversity, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.

The department previously found that Yale University's medical school and UCLA's medical school unlawfully considered race in admissions and announced investigations into 15 other medical schools. In its findings against Duke Law, the DOJ cited that Black or Hispanic applicants were more likely to be admitted than white or Asian applicants with similar academic credentials.

The median Law School Admissions Test scores of rejected white and Asian applicants also exceeded those of admitted Black applicants in 2024 and 2025. The department seeks to reach a settlement with Duke Law.