Biden drops Trump administration’s Yale suit claiming bias against Asian, White students

The Biden Justice Department told a federal judge Wednesday it is dropping a lawsuit against Yale University that was brought by the Trump administration alleging the school discriminates against Asian-American and White students in admissions.

The filing in U.S. District Court in Connecticut said the Biden administration has moved for a “voluntary dismissal of this action.” NBC News first reported the action.

“Our admissions process has allowed Yale College to assemble an unparalleled student body, which is distinguished by its academic excellence and diversity,” the school said in a statement. “Yale has steadfastly maintained that its process complies fully with Supreme Court precedent, and we are confident that the Justice Department will agree.”

Last October, the Trump administration said a two-year investigation showed that Yale illegally discriminated against Asian American and White students who applied for admission.

“The Justice Department 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,” the Justice Department said at the time. “For the great majority of applicants, Asian Americans and Whites have only one-eighth 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.”

Legal challenges against Yale are expected to continue, however.

Students for Fair Admissions, a group that has battled several schools over what it alleges are discriminatory admissions practices, had earlier petitioned the court to intervene in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Yale.

While that request was denied, Students for Fair Admissions President Edward Blum said Wednesday the group plans to file its own lawsuit in the next several days.

“It is disappointing that the Department of Justice withdrew from this important lawsuit which had exposed Yale’s illegal use of quotas to achieve racial and ethnic proportionality,” Mr. Blum said.

⦁ James Varney contributed to this report.