Trump administration accuses Berkeley Law of favoring Black applicants over white and Asian candidates
TheGrio...
Federal officials allege the law school illegally considered race in admissions, a claim UC Berkeley strongly denies.
The Trump administration is accusing the University of California, Berkeley School of Law of favoring Black applicants while discriminating against white and Asian candidates. The Berkeley Law admissions probe comes three years after the Supreme Court restricted affirmative action in college admissions and amid concerns over declining Black enrollment at several universities.
The Justice and Education departments announced the findings Wednesday after a joint investigation into the law school’s admissions practices. Federal officials allege Berkeley Law used race, essay prompts and other methods to advance its diversity goals despite the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling limiting race-conscious admissions.
The administration said data provided by the school showed Black applicants had 5.8 times the odds of admission as comparable white applicants in 2025. Berkeley Law’s enrollment data from October 2025 listed 1,128 law students, including 516 white students, 293 Asian students and 51 Black students.
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky denied that race plays any role in the school’s admissions decisions. He said the admissions policy clearly states that race is not considered.
UC Berkeley’s central administration also pushed back against the allegations, saying the university would provide evidence showing that its admissions practices comply with applicable laws, policies and rules.
The dispute follows the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. That ruling sharply limited how colleges can consider race when selecting students, although applicants may still discuss how race affected their lives in personal essays.
President Donald Trump has made diversity, equity and inclusion programs a major target of his second administration, arguing that such policies discriminate against white people and undermine merit-based selection. Civil rights advocates have countered that diversity programs are intended to address longstanding inequalities affecting historically marginalized groups.
The Justice Department is seeking a voluntary resolution agreement with Berkeley Law. No court has determined that the school violated federal law, and the university continues to deny that race is used in its admissions decisions.