(SeaPRwire) – By: Adrian Kingsley
Duke Law isn’t just bending the rules on affirmative action. It’s finding loopholes to ignore the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling entirely, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The school claims to comply with equal-protection principles. But its admissions system still prioritizes Black and Hispanic applicants over white and Asian peers with identical credentials. This isn’t a minor oversight. It’s a direct challenge to the court’s attempt to level the playing field for all students.
The official DOJ accusation lays out unflinching facts. In 2023, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard and UNC. It sharply limited race-based college admissions to uphold constitutional equal-protection principles. Duke Law formally acknowledged this ruling. Yet it maintained an admissions system that favored Black and Hispanic applicants over white, Asian, and other candidates. The numbers tell a stark story. For classes entering between 2023 and 2025, a Black applicant had a roughly 3.5x higher probability of admission than an equally strong Asian applicant with identical academic credentials. The real impact is tangible for students who’ve spent years grinding for top LSAT scores and grades. They’re now being sidelined for reasons that have nothing to do with their merit.
Duke’s workaround hinges on “race or closely related proxies,” as outlined in the DOJ’s open letter. These include personal essays and first-generation college status, which the school uses to advance its diversity goals. Meanwhile, traditional academic indicators like LSAT scores are given less weight. This isn’t subtle. It’s a deliberate attempt to replicate the outcomes of explicit racial preferences without naming race directly. The school’s response is equally telling. Duke Law says it’s reviewing the DOJ letter and remains committed to acting lawfully in line with its academic mission. But this is the same playbook we saw with Yale School of Medicine, which faced similar DOJ charges in May. Elite institutions are betting that regulatory ambiguity will let them keep their old systems intact.
Elite schools will continue to exploit these loopholes until the DOJ imposes penalties severe enough to outweigh the benefits of maintaining their preferred racial demographics.
Author bio: Adrian Kingsley, an internationally renowned scholar specializing in public administration and social policy analysis.