The U.S. Department of Justice has found that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated against applicants based on race during admissions for its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced its findings Thursday, concluding that Duke Law violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits racial discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance.
The department also said Duke’s practices violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which sharply restricted the consideration of race in college admissions.
“Duke Law School doesn’t get a free pass to discriminate against white and Asian students simply because it thinks it has good intentions,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in the DOJ announcement.
According to the department, Duke Law sought to preserve racial diversity in its incoming classes after the Supreme Court decision, including through changes to its mission statement and application process.
Duke’s application included short-answer questions allowing prospective students to explain how they would contribute to the law school’s mission, which included a stated commitment to a “diversity of perspective and experience.”
DOJ investigators found that admissions reviewers were instructed to apply a “Diversity/Services” tag to certain responses. Reviewers also tagged characteristics that the department said could correlate with race, including whether an applicant was a Pell Grant recipient.
Although Duke’s published policies stated that admissions reviewers did not see applicants’ racial demographic information, the Justice Department concluded that the tagging system highlighted information that could be used to pursue the law school’s racial diversity objectives.
The department said its investigation found significant differences in admission chances among applicants with comparable academic qualifications.
“A black or Hispanic applicant has a substantially higher likelihood of admission to Duke Law than a white or Asian applicant with the same academic credentials,” the Justice Department said.
DOJ also pointed to differences in LSAT scores as evidence supporting its findings. According to the department, in both 2024 and 2025, the median LSAT scores of rejected white and Asian applicants were higher than the median scores of Black applicants who were admitted.
The department did not provide those median scores in its announcement.
The investigation comes three years after the Supreme Court ruled against race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. While the ruling allows universities to consider how an applicant’s individual experiences — including experiences involving race — affected that person’s character or accomplishments, the court said institutions may not use application essays or other mechanisms to effectively recreate prohibited racial preferences.
Because Duke University receives federal financial assistance, its law school is subject to Title VI requirements.
The Justice Department said it will seek a settlement requiring Duke Law to bring its admissions practices into compliance with federal law. If negotiations fail, the department said it will file a lawsuit.
The findings represent the Justice Department’s determination following its investigation; the announcement did not indicate that a federal court has independently ruled that Duke Law violated Title VI.
The department said it will continue monitoring federally funded law schools for compliance with federal nondiscrimination law and the Supreme Court’s admissions ruling.
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