Following in President Joe Biden's footsteps, who has overturned more than 30 Trump presidential orders, the Justice Department has canceled a Trump administration civil rights lawsuit brought against an Ivy League school.
The Biden administration is shifting many former Trump positions, including civil rights, which had been pushed farther right by the former president, specifically in affirmative action policies.
The Justice Department on February 5 voluntarily dismissed the Yale University discrimination lawsuit filed by Trump’s DOJ in October 2020. This lawsuit concerned the Yale University application process, alleging discrimination in the application process. The bias in the case applied to White and Asian-Americans and no minority race.
The complaint alleged that Yale specifically discriminated against white and Asian American undergraduate applicants while also violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national organizations in any US programs that receive any federal financial assistance.
In the court filing, the Trump lawsuit claimed Yale University violated the Civil Rights Act by treating “domestic, non-transfer Asian and white applicants to Yale College to unlawful discrimination on the ground of race.”
The Justice Department led an investigation for two years after receiving complaints by Asian-American groups who claimed the school violated their civil rights during the Yale University application process.
The Department of Justice stated in the October 2020 lawsuit, “The Department of Justice found Yale discriminates based on race and national origin in its undergraduate admissions process, and that race is the determinative factor in hundreds of admissions decisions each year. For the great majority of applicants, Asian Americans and whites have only one-tenth to one-fourth of the likelihood of admission as African American applicants with comparable academic credentials. Yale rejects scores of Asian American and white applicants each year based on their race, whom it otherwise would admit.”
Though the lawsuit alleged noncompliance, the Supreme Court has ruled that universities or colleges that receive federal funds can consider applicants’ race and other information as part of the application process. The Supreme Court has long been a proponent of protecting diversity in higher education, having upheld the ability of universities and colleges to consider an applicant's race along with other factors to establish diversity on campuses.
With a new administration and numerous, ongoing presidential changes of prior Trump actions, the Department of Justice has withdrawn the lawsuit.
A statement from the Justice Department notes, “The department has dismissed its lawsuit in light of all available facts, circumstances, and legal developments, including the November 2020 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejecting a challenge to Harvard University's consideration of race in its admissions practices.”
Peter Salovey, the President of Yale University, released a statement on February 3, saying he was happy to share the good news.
"The (Justice) department wrongly alleged that Yale College’s admissions process discriminates against Asian American and white applicants,” said Salovey. “Even though Yale had cooperated with the department and provided data and facts to correct these misconceptions, the department filed suit against Yale in October.”
In his statement, Salovey reminded all applicants that diversity is always on their minds when accepting applicants to Yale University.
“Our ability to realize this shared mission relies on an admissions process that looks at the whole applicant: where applicants come from, what they have accomplished, and what they hope to achieve at Yale and after graduation. In this way, we create an incoming class that is richly diverse—with invaluable benefits to our students, faculty, and community.”
Harvard University also experienced similar lawsuits. A group sued the Ivy League school claiming admissions discriminated against Asian Americans. However, the case was dismissed by a lower court that stated Harvard University does not discriminate via its application process and decisions.
