The U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Education jointly concluded on September 9, 2026, that UC Berkeley's law school unlawfully favors certain racial groups in its admissions process, to the detriment of white and Asian applicants.
The two agencies found that the school's admissions practices violate Title VI, a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bars recipients of federal funding from engaging in racial discrimination. The findings also place Berkeley Law in conflict with the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which prohibited race-based preferences in college and university admissions nationwide.
The Justice Department said the conduct was deliberate. White applicants and Asian applicants were each found to face discriminatory treatment in the admissions process at the Berkeley, California institution.