Justice Department Finds Duke Law Discriminated Against White and Asian Students

The United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division announced Thursday that an investigation into Duke University School of Law revealed the institution deliberately excluded white and Asian students from admittance. The probe concluded that the school violated the Civil Rights Act by attempting to preserve race-based outcomes following a 2023 Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action.

Investigators found that Duke Law used diversity essay questions to tag applicants with characteristics correlated to race to fulfill racial quotas. The findings showed that black or Hispanic applicants had a substantially higher likelihood of admission than white or Asian applicants with similar academic backgrounds. In many cases, rejected white and Asian applicants possessed higher median LSAT scores than admitted black or Hispanic students.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon stated that black applicants had a 3.5 times higher chance of admission than Asian students. The Justice Department will now enter settlement negotiations with Duke University, though it may pursue lawsuits if those negotiations fail.