The US Department of Justice has launched a fresh legal assault on UC Berkeley School of Law, accusing the institution of rigging its admissions process to favour Black applicants.
The government’s central claim is that Black applicants had “5.8 times higher odds of admission than comparable white applicants” in 2025, a figure that hinges heavily on the definition of the word “comparable.”
The DOJ’s measure of comparability is rooted primarily in LSAT scores, noting that half of admitted Black students scored lower than 95 percent of admitted white students.
Critics have pointed out that holistic admissions processes, which weigh far more than a single standardised test, have remained perfectly legal throughout the history of American higher education law.
The premise that any deviation from ranking applicants purely by LSAT score is presumptively discriminatory is widely regarded as an inaccurate reading of the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decision.
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky has pushed back firmly against the allegations, stating that the school does not consider race “in any way” in its admissions decisions.
Chemerinsky added that “UC Berkeley will spare no effort to provide ample evidence showing that the university complies with all relevant laws, policies and rules governing admissions.”
The DOJ’s action is the latest in a sustained campaign by the Trump administration against diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes across American universities and major law firms.
The administration previously ordered law schools to remove the word “diversity” from their websites or face the loss of federal funding, and spent considerable time pressuring the American Bar Association to weaken its diversity accreditation standards.
The government subsequently moved to strip the ABA of its accreditor role entirely, while also deploying the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a series of executive orders against large law firms perceived as outspoken supporters of diversity initiatives.
The number of Black students at the centre of the controversy stands at just 51, a detail that has led many legal observers to question the proportionality and intent of the federal intervention.
For now, Berkeley Law appears ready to mount a vigorous legal and institutional defence against what many in the legal community regard as a politically motivated attack on established admissions practice.