President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced it is launching investigations into several California universities to make sure they are in compliance with a 2023 Supreme Court decision barring affirmative action in admissions.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will conduct compliance review investigations into the admissions practices of Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; and the University of California, Irvine.
“President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country,” Bondi said in a statement. “Every student in America deserves to be judged solely based on their hard work, intellect, and character, not the color of their skin.”
The DOJ did not disclose what specifically prompted the investigations, although it noted that “[f]or decades, elite colleges and universities have prioritized racial quotas over equality of opportunity, dividing Americans and discriminating against entire groups of applicants, all in the name of DEI.”
“The prior administration advanced the ideology behind this illegal practice and did nothing to protect the civil rights of American students,” the DOJ said in a press release.
Acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle said in a statement that the DOJ will “put an end to a shameful system in which someone’s race matters more than their ability.”
“Every college and university should know that illegal discrimination in admissions will be investigated and eliminated,” Mizelle said.
The DOJ’s announcement comes after the Department of Education (DoE) opened investigations into 45 universities over alleged race-based preferences and policies. The DoE warned those schools that those who violate Title VI prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in education programs and activities could ultimately lose federal funds.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
