DOJ Finds Duke Law Used Race in Admissions After Supreme Court Ruling
The department said reviewers used diversity essays and race-correlated tags, and Black applicants in 2025 were about 3.5 times more likely to be admitted.
- On Thursday, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated based on race in its 2023, 2024, and 2025 admissions, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- Investigators revealed that Duke Law utilized "diversity/services" tags and essay prompts asking how applicants would further the school's mission as proxies for race to identify preferred candidates, contradicting stated race-neutral admissions policy.
- Data from 2025 shows Black applicants had roughly 3.5 times higher probability of admission than similarly qualified Asian applicants; rejected white and Asian applicants had higher median LSAT scores than admitted Black students in both 2024 and 2025.
- Seeking a "voluntary resolution agreement" to ensure Title VI compliance, the Department warned it may sue if negotiations fail; Duke responded it is reviewing the findings while remaining committed to its academic mission.
- This enforcement follows a 2023 Supreme Court ruling barring race-conscious admissions and mirrors ongoing investigations into at least 15 other medical and graduate programs for similar alleged discriminatory practices.
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Duke Law's alleged race-based admissions accused of defying Supreme Court ruling: DOJ
The Justice Department accuses Duke Law of favoring Black and Hispanic applicants over White and Asian students to meet diversity goals, violating the Supreme Court's SFFA ruling.
Justice Department finds Duke Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants
The U.S. Department of Justice has concluded that Duke University School of Law violated federal civil rights law by intentionally discriminating on the basis of race in admissions for its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes. According to findings released Thursday, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the law school’s admissions practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling…
Justice Department cites Duke Law for discrimination based on race in admissions
Duke University School of Law, seventh-best nationally in a U.S. News & World Report ranking, discriminated based on race in admissions for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 classes, says the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. DOJ.
DOJ Says Duke Law School Never Stopped Discriminating
The Justice Department said Thursday that Duke University’s law school is still using racial preferences in admissions, three years after the Supreme Court ruled the practice illegal. The department’s Civil Rights Division found that Black and Hispanic applicants received an advantage over White and Asian applicants at Duke Law. In both 2024 and 2025, the median LSAT scores of rejected White and Asian applicants were higher than the median score…
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