The Justice Division is accusing UC Berkeley Legislation of deliberately discriminating towards white and Asian candidates — as the college’s dean allegedly mentioned methods to skirt guidelines barring race-based admissions.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division concluded Wednesday that the once-elite regulation college violated federal civil rights regulation when choosing its incoming courses of 2024 and 2025, even after the Supreme Court docket’s landmark 2023 choice placing down race-conscious school admissions.
“The proof exhibits that Berkeley Legislation intentionally discriminates towards candidates primarily based on race,” wrote Harmeet Dhillon, the top of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, in a blistering six-page letter to the college’s legal professional.
Dhillon zeroed in on Berkeley Legislation Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, citing a number of public feedback suggesting he was in search of methods to protect racial preferences after the Supreme Court docket ruling.
Earlier than the choice, Chemerinsky informed The New Yorker that faculties might substitute the “express use of race” with “proxies for race,” in keeping with the letter.
He later warned throughout a convention that faculties needs to be cautious about how such insurance policies have been described.
“If it’s introduced with sturdy race impartial justifications, I believe it’s more likely to be allowed,” Chemerinsky mentioned, in keeping with the DOJ letter. “And I believe it’s crucial to not discuss it by way of it being an try to avoid the choice.”
The feds additionally cited a video through which Chemerinsky mentioned what he known as “unspoken affirmative motion” in school hiring and mentioned he would deny making the remarks if questioned underneath oath.
“You may suppose it, you may vote it,” Chemerinsky informed the viewers about contemplating variety when selecting school candidates, “however our discussions usually are not privileged, so don’t ever articulate that that’s what you’re doing!”
“Berkeley Legislation’s Dean Chemerinsky has repeatedly expressed his intention to defy the Supreme Court docket’s ruling in SFFA,” Dhillon wrote. “He additionally has expressed his willingness to cover his discrimination if caught.”
Chemerinsky pushed again on the DOJ’s allegations, insisting race performs no function within the regulation college’s admissions selections.
“College of California, Berkeley Faculty of Legislation in its admissions selections scrupulously complies with Proposition 209, federal statutes, and the US Structure. Our admissions coverage is evident that race is just not thought of in any means in admissions selections,” Chemerinsky mentioned in a press release.
“Proposition 209, federal statutes, and the Supreme Court docket’s selections don’t preclude faculties from pursuing variety as long as they offer no preferences primarily based on race. Berkeley Legislation doesn’t accomplish that.”
The DOJ, nevertheless, mentioned Berkeley admissions officers adopted the strategy described in Chemerinsky’s earlier feedback.
The college’s software requested potential college students how their “perspective, expertise, Voice” would contribute to variety and particularly informed them they might talk about “race/ethnicity,” in keeping with the findings.
Berkeley’s personal admissions knowledge confirmed important racial disparities, investigators mentioned.
After accounting for LSAT scores, undergraduate GPAs and race, the DOJ discovered black candidates in 2025 had 5.8 occasions better odds of admission than comparable white candidates. In 2024, they’d 6.5 occasions better odds.
Asian candidates have been deprived in contrast with black candidates to an identical diploma, the division discovered. The median LSAT rating for admitted black college students was additionally roughly 5 factors decrease than the median for admitted white and Asian college students annually from 2021 by 2025.
“The magnitude and sturdiness of the race preferences confirmed by Berkeley Legislation’s applicant-level knowledge couldn’t fairly have occurred by probability,” Dhillon wrote.
The college’s administration additionally rejected the DOJ’s conclusions, pointing to California’s almost three-decade-old prohibition on racial preferences.
“Since its passage in 1996, UC Berkeley and its numerous faculties and faculties, have scrupulously abided by the California constitutional modification (often known as Proposition 209) that prohibits the college from contemplating race, intercourse, colour, ethnicity, or nationwide origin in relation to admissions or employment,” college officers mentioned in a press release.
“UC Berkeley is dedicated to making sure that each scholar is admitted primarily based on their benefit, and never on their race, intercourse, colour, ethnicity, or nationwide origin.
Faculty officers added that they “will spare no effort to supply ample proof exhibiting that the college complies with all related legal guidelines, insurance policies and guidelines governing admissions.”
The findings mark the most recent federal motion concentrating on alleged racial discrimination inside the College of California system.
In Might, the Justice Division alleged UCLA’s David Geffen Faculty of Medication had violated Title VI by deliberately contemplating race in admissions and discriminating towards white and Asian candidates.
The DOJ investigation discovered black and Hispanic college students have been admitted with decrease common tutorial credentials than their white and Asian counterparts. UCLA pushed again on the allegations, saying its admissions course of was merit-based and complied with state and federal regulation.
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Berkeley Legislation additionally suffered a historic tumble in U.S. Information & World Report’s intently watched regulation college rankings this yr, falling three spots to No. 16 and dropping out of the vaunted “T14” group of high regulation faculties for the primary time within the rankings’ historical past.
The college has declined to take part in U.S. Information’ rankings course of since 2022, although the publication continues to rank it.
Berkeley receives important federal funding, together with greater than $369 million from the Division of Training as of Sept. 3, in keeping with Wednesday’s letter.
The Justice Division is now searching for a voluntary decision settlement with the college to deliver its admissions and oversight practices into compliance with federal regulation, citing the college’s refusal to adjust to requests for compliance info.
“This discrimination is ongoing,” Dhillon wrote within the findings.
