DOJ proves Duke Law used tags to discriminate after SFFA ruling
By Imani Sutton · Reporting from Atlanta ·
The most insidious kind of failure isn't the broken grid or the cracked sewer main; it’s the one built into the operating system itself—the invisible mechanism that determines who…
The Illusion of "Diversity" Tags
The most insidious kind of failure isn't the broken grid or the cracked sewer main; it’s the one built into the operating system itself—the invisible mechanism that determines who gets access to power, resources, and legitimacy. This week, the Justice Department proved that even highly selective institutions like Duke Law School are not immune to systemic rot. The DOJ found that Duke intentionally discriminated based on race in granting and denying admission for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes.
The details laid out by justice.gov are damning. After the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA) supposedly closed the book on race-conscious admissions, Duke Law didn't pivot; it merely learned to disguise its intent. Instead of admitting that they were prioritizing outcomes, they engineered a system where those priorities could be masked by bureaucratic jargon.
The mechanism was surgical in its opacity: short answer essays and "Diversity/Services" tags. Admissions reviewers weren't just reading words; they were instructed to tag responses related to "diversity of perspective and experience." Worse still, they were told to use tags for specific applicant characteristics commonly correlated with race, such as being a Pell grant recipient. This wasn’t accidental data collection; it was a deliberate effort to preserve racial outcomes, as the DOJ stated.
When Proxies Become Policy
This isn't about good intentions—it’s about profit and power. As Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division pointed out: “Duke Law School doesn’t get a free pass to discriminate against white and Asian students simply because it thinks it has good intentions.”
The pattern is clear, documented by both carolinajournal.com and the DOJ's official findings: Black or Hispanic applicants had a substantially higher likelihood of admission than their white or Asian peers with identical credentials. The numbers don’t lie. In 2024 and 2025, the median LSAT scores of rejected white and Asian applicants exceeded the median scores of admitted black applicants.
The law is unambiguous: law schools are subject to federal non-discrimination laws because they receive federal financial assistance. When institutions like Duke treat these foundational rules as mere suggestions—as something that can be circumvented with enough jargon and careful tagging—they aren't just bending policy; they are undermining the entire structure of equal opportunity.
The Unbreakable Current of Law
The core issue here is not merely about admissions quotas; it’s about the failure to uphold a foundational promise: that citizenship confers rights regardless of skin color or national origin. This brings us back to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark law built on the principle that discrimination based on race and national origin must be prohibited across all sectors of public life.
The shared mechanism is absolute: comprehensive legislative prohibition. The CRA of 1964 established that when the government—or any entity receiving federal funding—participates in civil life, it cannot legally operate with a bifurcated standard of citizenship. Duke Law’s actions demonstrate an attempt to create a private, elective system of privilege that exists outside the reach of this fundamental law. They are attempting to build a bespoke caste system using academic credentials and "diversity" as camouflage.
The Department's threat—to monitor compliance and file suit if negotiations fail—is not optional; it is necessary. The law does not permit institutions to define their own metrics for who belongs in the legal profession, especially when those metrics are designed to exclude based on race.
What Duke Law represents is a dangerous form of institutional hypocrisy: using the language of equity while executing practices that violate the fundamental mandate of equal treatment under federal law. They think they can innovate around the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by adding layers of complexity, but the law does not care about your mission statement or your tagging system; it only cares who you exclude and why. The Department must pursue this to the bitter end until every single line of code—every policy, every tag, every admission decision—is brought into full compliance with the Constitution.
Sources
- justice.gov: Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Finds Duke Law School ...
- carolinajournal.com: DOJ accuses Duke Law School of racial discrimination in admissions
- newsobserver.com: DOJ accuses Duke Law of racial discrimination in admissions | Raleigh ...
- usnews.com: Justice Department Says Duke Law School Illegally Considered Race in ...
- jocoreport.com: Justice Department Finds Duke Law School Discriminates Based On Race In ...