Articles Tagged: Civil Rights

 

DOJ Finds Duke Law’s Admissions Practices Violated Title VI

The Justice Department said on August 6 that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated on the basis of race in admissions for its 2023, 2024, and 2025 entering classes, concluding that the school’s practices violated Title VI and the Supreme Court’s ban on race-based admissions in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College et al.

The finding is significant not only because it targets a prominent law school, but because it shows continued federal enforcement activity after Students for Fair Admissions. That 2023 decision reshaped the legal framework for admissions nationwide, holding that the use of race in college admissions could not survive constitutional scrutiny.

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DOJ Targets Willow Bridge in Major Fair Housing Settlement Over Tenant Screening

The Justice Department has announced a proposed settlement with Willow Bridge, one of the nation’s largest landlords, in a fair housing matter that puts tenant-screening practices squarely in the compliance spotlight. The case centers on allegations that the company’s use of criminal-history screening policies unlawfully discriminated against Black applicants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

According to the government, blanket or overly restrictive screening standards can create a disparate impact when they disproportionately exclude protected groups without sufficient justification.

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Second Circuit Appeal Faces Early Jurisdictional Test in Legal Aid Society Dismissal Motion

A new filing in View full case on Docket Alarm puts a familiar but often decisive appellate issue front and center: whether the appeal should be dismissed before merits briefing proceeds. On June 10, 2026, appellee The Legal Aid Society filed Motion No. 14 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, seeking dismissal of the appeal in docket 26-1232.

Although the docket entry itself is concise, motions to dismiss at the appellate level typically target threshold defects that can end a case without reaching the substantive issues.

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PayPal’s $30 Million DOJ Settlement Puts DEI Program Design Under the Microscope

PayPal has agreed to waive roughly $30 million in fees to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a 2020 program aimed at supporting Black- and minority-owned businesses. According to the government, the program unlawfully favored certain businesses on the basis of race, making the settlement a notable marker in the ongoing legal scrutiny of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The matter is significant because it shows how civil-rights enforcement is being applied outside the traditional employment setting.

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