WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education announced that the University of California, Berkeley School of Law deliberately discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 2023 Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the school's "deliberate efforts to circumvent the Supreme Court's decision in SFFA demonstrate a complete disregard for the rule of law." The Justice Department will "aggressively pursue compliance from schools who attempt to racially manipulate their student bodies in violation of federal law," Dhillon said.
Kimberly Richey, the Education Department's assistant secretary for civil rights, said "Title VI is clear: no student should be advantaged or disadvantaged in admissions because of the color of their skin." Richey emphasized that universities cannot evade the high court's ruling by finding new ways to make race a factor in admissions decisions.
The investigation found that after the SFFA ruling, Berkeley Law continued using race, essay prompts and other tactics to meet diversity goals. The law school's application required applicants to specify their racial identity, allowing admitted students to be "grouped" with others of the same "primary identity" in class.
Data showed a stark pattern: half of Berkeley Law's admitted black applicants in 2024 and 2025 had LSAT scores below the 95th percentile of admitted white applicants. More than one-third of admitted black applicants scored below the 99th percentile of admitted white applicants. In 2025 alone, black applicants had 5.8 times higher odds of admission compared to comparable white applicants.
Berkeley Law receives federal financial assistance and is bound by federal non-discrimination laws. The Justice Department and Education Department said they will continue investigating other institutions for compliance.
