Justice Department targets Duke Law over alleged discriminatory admissions practices

The Justice Department said Duke University School of Law’s admissions practices violated federal civil rights law after a compliance review that covered the school’s 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. A letter dated Aug. 6, 2026, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, said the Civil Rights Division had completed its Title VI review and referred to an April 18, 2025 inquiry into whether Duke Law’s admissions process complied with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The letter was addressed to Marc P. Berger of Latham & Watkins LLP, indicating Duke Law was represented by outside counsel in the matter. Justice Department materials said the school discriminated based on race in admissions, and one search-result summary said Black applicants in 2025 had roughly 3.5 times the chance of admission as Asian applicants with the same academic credentials. That allegation gives the dispute a concrete admissions-data basis at a time when federal officials are pressing elite schools to justify how they select students.

Duke Law is now one of the most prominent targets in a broader campaign to reshape higher-education admissions through federal pressure. The administration had already opened scrutiny of Duke University and the Duke Law Journal, with CNN reporting on July 28, 2025 that investigators had launched a probe into alleged race-based discrimination in law journal member selection. The Hill reported the next day that the administration was investigating Duke University and the Duke Law Journal over the same issue. A Duke Chronicle story dated Aug. 8, 2025 said Duke University was required to submit admissions data under a Trump presidential memorandum focused on affirmative action and race.

The case sits squarely in the post-affirmative-action legal landscape that followed the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision narrowing race-conscious admissions. Federal officials have moved from broad criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion programs to direct review of admissions files, journals and other student-selection systems at elite institutions. Duke Law’s website says learning from differing perspectives is part of its educational mission and that the school values diversity in the broadest sense, language that now stands in tension with the Justice Department’s view of its admissions practices.

Duke Law’s standing makes the dispute especially significant beyond Durham, North Carolina. As one of the country’s elite professional schools, its admissions policies can shape the pipeline into law firms, government and other influential posts. The latest federal action suggests the administration sees law schools as a central battleground in its effort to force universities to redraw the line between diversity goals and unlawful discrimination.