Overview
- The Justice Department and Education Department issued a joint findings letter Wednesday concluding Berkeley Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its 2024 and 2025 admissions and thus violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
- Federal analysts of applicant-level data found large racial disparities, reporting that Black applicants had about 5.8 times the odds of admission over comparable white applicants in 2025 after accounting for LSAT and GPA.
- Investigators cited application prompts and an optional racial-identity question that they say functioned as tools to solicit race or to group students by identity, and they pointed to public remarks by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky as supporting evidence.
- The departments are seeking a negotiated voluntary resolution to bring Berkeley Law into compliance and warned they will file suit if the school does not agree to required changes to its admissions and oversight practices.
- Berkeley and Dean Chemerinsky reject the findings, say the school complies with California’s Proposition 209 and federal law, and the dispute now shifts to settlement talks and possible litigation with broader implications for federal enforcement of post‑SFFA admissions policies.