Feds Accuse Berkeley Law of Racial Admissions Bias

The Trump administration alleged that UC Berkeley School of Law illegally discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions for the 2024 and 2025 entering classes. A joint Justice Department and Education Department investigation said Black applicants in 2025 had 5.8 times the odds of admission as comparably qualified white applicants and accused the school of using application questions, essay prompts and other practices to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on race-based admissions preferences. Federal officials also cited remarks by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky as evidence that the school sought to preserve diversity goals through race-neutral proxies. Berkeley Law and the University of California system rejected the findings, saying race is not considered in admissions and that the process complies with federal law and California’s Proposition 209. The Justice Department is seeking a compliance agreement and has threatened litigation and further enforcement, as part of broader scrutiny of UC campuses and other California graduate programs.