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DOJ Civil Rights Division found Duke Law School discriminated based on race in admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on August 7, 2026 that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated based on race in admitting its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes, violating Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. It is the first law school, following prior findings against UCLA, Yale, and UC Davis medical schools, that the Civil Rights Division has found in violation of SFFA.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on August 7, 2026 that it had found Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated based on race in granting and denying admission to its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. The finding followed an investigation DOJ opened in April 2025. In a letter to Duke's outside counsel, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon cited the law school's "diversity" admissions essay questions and internal reviewer guidance instructing staff to "tag" applicant characteristics correlated with race as evidence of intent to preserve race-based outcomes after SFFA. DOJ's own analysis found the admitted median LSAT score for Black applicants was lower than for denied Asian and white applicants, and said "highly qualified white, Asian and other students were denied admission on the basis of their race."

A Duke spokesperson said the university was "reviewing the letter and its conclusions carefully" and was "committed to complying with the law." DOJ said it is seeking a voluntary resolution agreement with Duke to bring its admissions practices into compliance and warned of enforcement action, including litigation, if no agreement is reached.

Duke Law is the first law school, rather than medical school, that the Civil Rights Division has found in violation of SFFA in a campaign that has previously produced findings against UCLA, Yale, and UC Davis medical schools and has opened investigations into more than two dozen additional schools.

Why we recorded this

The Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard banned race-conscious college admissions nationwide. When the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division investigates and publicly announces that a specific school evaded that ruling, it is enforcing a real constitutional boundary — but this finding is the fourth in a broader Civil Rights Division campaign that has already targeted UCLA, Yale, and UC Davis medical schools, and is the first to extend the campaign from medical schools to a law school. This archive records when civil-rights enforcement authority is deployed as a recurring political instrument against an expanding class of institutions rather than case-by-case adjudication.

Sources

  1. Justice Department Finds Duke Law School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions — U.S. Department of Justice primary accessed August 9, 2026
  2. Justice Department finds Duke Law discriminated based on race in admissions — The Duke Chronicle investigative accessed August 9, 2026
  3. DOJ Finds Duke Law Discriminated in Admissions — Inside Higher Ed investigative accessed August 9, 2026

See also