Berkeley Law Admissions Probe

Federal investigators accused Berkeley Law of refusing to provide information requested during the admissions investigation, adding a procedural dispute to the substantive allegations.

The Justice Department said the admissions patterns “could not reasonably have occurred by chance” and constituted substantial evidence of intentional discrimination, based in part on applicant data supplied by the law school.

The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling did not categorically prohibit applicants from discussing race: universities may consider essays describing how race shaped an applicant’s life when the discussion is concretely tied to a character trait or distinctive ability the applicant would contribute. DOJ argued Berkeley crossed that line by using essays to solicit racial information.

The DOJ letter cited remarks by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky in which he discussed using race-neutral rationales to preserve diversity and cautioned colleagues not to describe policies as efforts to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling, including: “If it’s presented with strong race neutral justifications, I think it’s much more likely to be allowed.”