Duke Law, the Justice Department, and America’s Most Expensive Argument About Fairness
There are few spectacles more American than watching a prestigious law school and the United States Department of Justice prepare to fight over what the law means. It is like seeing two etiquette instructors wrestle in a restaurant lobby. Both sides insist they are defending order. Both sides accuse the other of violating the rules. Everyone nearby quietly moves the wineglasses out of reach. The Justice Department announced on August 6 that its Civil Rights Division had concluded Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated on the basis of race when admitting its 2023, 2024, and 2025 classes. According to the department, Duke continued pursuing race-based outcomes after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard restricted the use of race in college admissions. Duke says it is reviewing the findings and remains committed to following the law while preserving its academic mission. That sentence—“committed to following the law while preserv...
