DOJ and Dept. of Education Accuse UC Berkeley Law School of Admissions Discrimination
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, under the Trump administration, have accused UC Berkeley Law School of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants in its admissions process. The departments are requesting the law school enter into a voluntary…
San Francisco Oakland San Jose, CA, September 9, 2026 —
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education have formally accused the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law of engaging in illegal discrimination in its admissions process, specifically targeting white and Asian applicants. The accusations were made under the Trump administration.
According to the departments, the law school’s admissions practices allegedly violated federal civil rights law. The nature of the specific practices leading to this accusation has not been fully detailed publicly in the provided summary.
As a result of these allegations, the federal departments are seeking to have UC Berkeley Law School enter into a voluntary resolution agreement. Such an agreement is intended to compel the institution to alter its admissions procedures to ensure compliance with federal law moving forward. The specific terms of this proposed resolution agreement were not provided.
The contractor’s name responsible for the alleged discriminatory practices or the specific timeline of the investigation was not detailed in the summary. The outcome of the request for a voluntary resolution agreement and any potential enforcement actions if such an agreement is not reached were also not specified.
Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. This includes admissions processes at educational institutions.
A spokesperson for the law school or the university was not quoted in the provided summary, nor were details about the school’s response to these federal accusations made available.
The departments stated their objective is to ensure the law school’s admissions processes are lawful and equitable, aligning with federal anti-discrimination statutes. The specific financial figures, fines, or other penalties associated with this matter were not provided in the summary.
Further details regarding the investigation, the alleged discriminatory elements, and the path toward a resolution remain pending.
Story summarized from the original created by Steph Rodriguez on ww2.kqed.org, see more information here.
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