Admissions Rigged? DOJ Corners Duke Law

Trump’s Justice Department says Duke University School of Law used race in admissions and shut out white and Asian applicants for three incoming classes.

Quick Take

The Justice Department says Duke Law violated Title VI in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes.
Officials said the school gave race a role in admissions after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
The department said black and Hispanic applicants had a higher chance of admission than white and Asian applicants with similar records.
The government now wants a voluntary resolution, and it may sue if Duke does not comply.

Justice Department Finds a Civil Rights Violation

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Duke Law “discriminated on the basis of race” in the admissions of its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes. The agency said its review found intentional discrimination in grant and denial decisions after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. The department also said Duke Law continued to use race-based outcomes even after that decision.

That finding puts Duke in the center of the Trump administration’s broader push to force universities back toward merit-based admissions. The Justice Department said the school used “diversity” essay questions and other information to shape class makeup. A federal letter to Duke said applicants from preferred racial groups were given advantages, while highly qualified white, Asian, and other students were denied admission because of race.

What Federal Investigators Say They Found

According to the Justice Department, black and Hispanic applicants had a substantially higher likelihood of admission than white and Asian applicants with the same academic credentials. The department also said median Law School Admission Test scores for rejected white and Asian applicants in 2024 and 2025 were higher than the median scores of admitted black applicants. Those findings, if sustained, show the kind of race-based sorting the Supreme Court said schools cannot use.

The federal letter went further and said Duke Law’s conduct was ongoing. It said the school discriminated against applicants to benefit “preferred race classes” and that the pattern covered the 2023 through 2025 classes. The department said it wants a voluntary resolution agreement to bring Duke’s admissions into compliance. If that effort fails, officials said the government will file suit.

Duke’s Response and the Wider Pressure Campaign

Duke said it is reviewing the Justice Department’s findings and will continue to comply with the law. That short response leaves the school with a hard choice: accept federal pressure or defend the admissions process in court. The Trump administration has made higher education a major target in its civil rights drive, and Duke is now one of the most prominent schools in that line of fire.

Justice Department cites Duke Law for discrimination based on race in admissions https://t.co/5z6clNHIIM

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) August 8, 2026

The Department of Education has also opened a separate investigation into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal over alleged Title VI violations tied to law journal membership. That matters because it shows the issue is no longer limited to one admissions office. Federal agencies are now looking at related parts of elite campuses where race may have been used as a filter, tag, or hidden advantage.

Why This Case Matters for Admissions Nationwide

This fight reaches far beyond Durham. Since the Supreme Court ended overt race-based admissions, schools have faced growing scrutiny over essays, tags, and other tools that can still steer results by race. The Duke case gives federal officials a new test case for enforcing that ban. For families who believe college should reward work, scores, and discipline, the findings will feel familiar and infuriating.

If the Justice Department follows through, Duke could become a warning to other elite schools that still try to engineer racial outcomes behind softer language. The federal letter says race was used in grant and denial decisions, not just in outreach or recruitment. That distinction matters. Outreach is one thing. Favoring one race over another in admissions is something else, and the government says Duke crossed that line.