US Department of Education opens DEI probe into Duke Law Journal

Brian Gordon, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Jul 30, 2025

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The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights probe into the Duke Law Journal after a conservative news outlet reported the academic publication factored law students’ racial and ethnic identities when selecting editors.

“In some, if not all, cases, select applicants were afforded the opportunity to be awarded extra points based on their personal statements that referenced their race or ethnicity,” the Education Department wrote in a July 28 statement.

The federal government cited an article published last month in the Washington Free Beacon, which showed the law journal’s 2024 “Application Packet” encouraged prospective members to discuss their race, gender and ethnicity in personal statements.

A portion of the personal statement rubric, up to 10 points, included such identity perspectives. Another 3 to 5 points could be awarded “if the person has meaningfully advanced the interests of communities with diverse perspectives and experiences either at school or in their community,” such as leading a campus affinity group.

The “Application Packet” cover was addressed to “affinity groups,” and the Education Department said it will look into whether it was shared with other students.

Duke Law Journal did not respond to a request for comment. Asked about the announced investigation, Duke University spokesperson Gregory Phillips said the school does not have anything to share at this time.

In its application packet last year, the law journal said its goals include “publishing excellent academic scholarship and promoting diverse perspectives in legal academia.” The packet later includes several personal statement examples that convey writers’ racial, gender and ethnic identities shaping their motivations for joining the journal.

Acceptance onto the journal staff is a two-year commitment and can be viewed as an accomplishment by future employers.

The personal statement is just one part of the acceptance process. At most, 20% of Duke law students are typically invited to join each year, the journal said in its application packet, and two-thirds of the invitations are based solely on first-year students’ GPAs and a research assignment called a Casenote.

Duke, HHS no comment frozen funding report

Duke University is the latest elite law school to have its law journal member process come under scrutiny. Led by Secretary Linda McMahon, the Department of Education in April started investigating Harvard Law Review over alleged violations of Section VI of the Civil Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination based on religion, sex, national origin or race in programs that receive federal assistance.

Last month, the law firm America First Legal sued the University of Michigan for alleged Title VI violations in editor selection and journal submissions. America First Legal was founded by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who graduated from Duke University.

Section VI is also the federal law upon which the Education Department is basing its Duke Law Journal investigation.

On Monday, the Trump administration announced a separate civil rights investigation into alleged discriminatory practices at Duke Health and the Duke University School of Medicine. A letter to top Duke officials from McMahon and Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. accused the Durham school, without providing examples, of weighing race in policies like recruitment and hiring.

Kennedy and McMahon threatened to cut all federal funding to Duke Health if the university did not conduct a review. They requested Duke form a “Merit and Civil Rights Committee” to examine the health system’s practices over a six-month period.

Duke has not commented on this investigation or whether it will create such a committee.

On Tuesday, multiple national outlets reported the Trump administration has frozen $108 million in federal grants for Duke University.

Duke has not commented on this report, and in an email Wednesday, Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard said the federal government “does not comment on open investigations.”

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