DOJ drops suit vs. Yale as government reverse's Trump position on affirmative action

Yale University

In another reversal of Trump-era divide-and-conquer policy, last week the Biden administration dropped the Justice Department's discrimination lawsuit against Yale University that alleged the Ivy League school was discriminating against Asian American and white student applicants.

However, in announcing its action Dec. 3, federal prosecutors said the Justice Department’s underlying investigation, aimed at ensuring Yale complies with federal anti-discrimination laws, continues.

DOJ attorneys in the Trump administration accused Yale in October of violating civil rights laws because it “discriminates based on race and national origin in its undergraduate admissions process," and that race is the key factor in deciding who gains admission to the Ivy League school.

The DOJ investigation is based on a 2016 complaint by the New Jersey-based Asian American Coalition for Education coalition against Yale, Brown and Dartmouth. The AACE claimed that Asian American applicants, mainly Chinese, were being denied admissions make room for students who were supposedly less qualified.

“We believed this lawsuit did not have merit from the very beginning," said Niyati Shah, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC’s director of litigation and co-counsel with Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles.

"The Justice Department’s decision today affirmed that this lawsuit was clearly about playing politics for the purpose of dismantling affirmative action, which benefits so many students of color. Statistics prove that Asian Americans overwhelmingly support affirmative action and understand that race-conscious admissions are necessary for educational equity and diversity in higher education.”

In its defense, Yale said its admission practices comply with rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court. Race was only one determinant in looking at “the whole person” when deciding which applicants to admit.

A DOJ statement said that the department is dropping the suit “in light of all available facts, circumstances, and legal developments” but didn’t specify further. The government also notified Yale that it had withdrawn its determination letter that alleged that the university discriminated based on race and national origin.

Yale was gratified and pleased by those two developments, spokesperson Karen Peart said.

The challengers, supported and encouraged by white activists of the Students for Fair Admissions, have lost at each round in the lower courts, but their appeal is expected in the coming weeks at the U.S. Supreme Court, where a conservative majority may well be more receptive.

A similar case filed by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum who leads the Students for Fair Admissions, against Harvard University is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling.

“The challenge to race-based affirmative action in higher education will continue regardless of any change in the Department of Justice,” said Edward Blum, the president of Students for Fair Admissions, which filed the lawsuit against Harvard.

“It’s great to see that America again has a Justice Department that is back in the business of fulfilling its mission of advancing equal educational opportunity and promoting racial diversity," said David Hinojosa, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

"America’s communities of color are filled with highly talented individuals, and affirmative action programs help ensure they are not overlooked when applying to selective institutions of higher education,"