US colleges have some explaining to do.
The Trump administration is intensifying its examination of college admissions policies, accusing one of America’s most prominent public law schools of giving Black applicants an unlawful advantage over white and Asian applicants.
The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education announced that a joint federal investigation found the University of California, Berkeley School of Law discriminated on the basis of race during its admissions process.
Berkeley Law disputes the government’s conclusions and maintains that it does not give applicants preferential treatment based on race.
The disagreement sets up another potentially significant confrontation over affirmative action, equal treatment and the future of college admissions following the Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 ruling on race-conscious admissions.
Trump Administration Targets Berkeley Law
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced its findings Wednesday following an investigation that began in 2025.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon alleged in a findings letter that Berkeley Law “deliberately discriminated” against Asian and white applicants.
Federal officials contend the school’s practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin by programs receiving federal financial assistance.
The government is seeking a voluntary resolution agreement with the University of California designed to bring Berkeley Law’s admissions practices into compliance with federal requirements.
If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, the Justice Department says it could pursue litigation.
Admissions Statistics Become Central to Investigation
Some of the most significant claims involve differences in admissions outcomes among applicants.
According to the Justice Department’s analysis, Black applicants in 2025 had 5.8 times higher odds of admission than comparable white applicants.
Federal investigators also pointed to differences in LSAT scores.
The Justice Department reported that, across the 2024 and 2025 entering classes, half of admitted Black applicants had LSAT scores below those of 95% of admitted white applicants.
More than one-third of admitted Black applicants had scores below those of 99% of admitted white applicants, according to the department.
Federal officials argue these disparities, combined with other evidence gathered during their investigation, indicate that race influenced admissions decisions.
Statistical disparities alone, however, are not the entire dispute. The central legal question concerns whether Berkeley actually considered race, directly or indirectly, when deciding which applicants to admit.
Justice Department Points to Essays and Alleged Racial Proxies
Federal investigators say the case goes beyond test scores.
According to the Justice Department, Berkeley Law used essay prompts, information about applicants’ racial identities and what investigators characterized as racial proxies to pursue diversity objectives.
The government argues those methods effectively allowed race to remain a factor in admissions after the Supreme Court restricted race-conscious university admissions in 2023.
Berkeley disputes that interpretation.
That disagreement could have consequences extending well beyond one California law school because universities nationwide have been adjusting their admissions procedures since the Supreme Court decision.
Berkeley Law Rejects Discrimination Allegations
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky has maintained that the institution follows state and federal laws governing race and admissions.
Chemerinsky said the school’s admissions guidelines make it clear that an applicant’s race plays no role in determining whether they are accepted.
He has argued that the law allows universities to pursue diversity provided they do not grant preferences to individual applicants because of their race.
Berkeley Law says it does not provide such racial preferences.
The school’s position therefore conflicts directly with the conclusions reached by federal investigators.
Supreme Court Decision Changed College Admissions
The dispute stems partly from one of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions affecting higher education in decades.
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
The ruling sharply limited how universities can consider race when selecting students.
Since that decision, colleges across America have faced a difficult question: How can institutions pursue diverse student populations without making race itself a factor in individual admissions decisions?
The Trump administration is taking an aggressive approach to enforcing its interpretation of the ruling.
Federal officials argue that universities cannot accomplish indirectly through essays, proxies or other methods what the Supreme Court prohibited them from doing directly.
What Title VI Means for Universities
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 plays an important role in the controversy.
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance.
Because universities and law schools can receive substantial federal funding, compliance with Title VI can carry significant financial and legal consequences.
The Berkeley investigation is therefore about more than one admissions class. It is part of a broader national debate over how civil rights protections should apply to higher education.
Trump Administration Expands Higher Education Crackdown
Berkeley is not the only major university facing scrutiny.
The Trump administration has pursued investigations and enforcement actions involving diversity and admissions policies at other American colleges and professional schools.
The Justice Department announced a separate finding in August involving George Washington University Medical School, similarly alleging unlawful race-based discrimination in admissions.
Those actions demonstrate that federal officials are examining whether universities changed their admissions practices sufficiently following the Supreme Court’s affirmative-action ruling.
Merit, Diversity and Equal Treatment Take Center Stage
The Berkeley dispute touches on a broader debate that has divided Americans for decades.
Supporters of race-neutral admissions argue that applicants should compete under the same standards regardless of racial background.
Supporters of university diversity initiatives argue that schools can legally consider applicants’ individual experiences and backgrounds without awarding a preference simply because someone belongs to a particular racial group.
The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling significantly changed the boundaries governing those policies, but disputes over where those boundaries lie have continued.
Berkeley Law itself describes its admissions system as a holistic process in which applications are reviewed in their entirety rather than decided solely by numerical credentials such as LSAT scores and undergraduate grades.
What Happens Next?
The immediate question is whether Berkeley and the federal government can resolve the dispute without going to court.
The Justice Department says it wants a voluntary agreement that would ensure Berkeley’s admissions and oversight procedures comply with federal law.
If negotiations fail, federal officials have said litigation is an option.
Such a legal battle could attract national attention because other colleges may be watching closely to determine how aggressively the federal government can enforce the Supreme Court’s restrictions on race-conscious admissions.
For prospective students and their families, the controversy also raises a straightforward concern: What should determine who earns admission to America’s most competitive universities?
Test scores?
Academic achievement?
Personal experiences?
Economic hardship?
Or some combination of those factors?
What federal officials insist cannot determine the outcome is an applicant’s race.
Berkeley Law says race does not determine its admissions decisions.
The Justice Department says its investigation found otherwise.
That fundamental disagreement now places one of the nation’s best-known public law schools at the center of America’s continuing battle over race, merit and equal treatment in higher education.
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