Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Audrey Anderson spoke with Bloomberg Law Podcast host June Grasso to discuss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) move to drop a Trump administration lawsuit against Yale accusing the university of discrimination in admissions for its race conscious admission policy. Audrey gave context to the decision by President Biden’s DOJ to drop the suit, which accused Yale of discriminating against white and Asian applicants while favoring Black and Hispanic applicants.

On dropping the lawsuit, Audrey explained that the Biden administration is essentially saying it agrees with the current case law from the U.S. Supreme Court that “race conscious student admission programs are legal, as long as they’re done in a narrowly tailored way.”

Audrey also explained, “The government had an investigation going on against Yale for a couple of years and then rather precipitously ended that investigation and filed a lawsuit against Yale last fall. The lawsuit will not go forward.”

“However, there is still an open investigation being carried out by the federal government,” Audrey explained. Yale hasn’t yet finished giving the government all the information it has asked for, and it’s clear that investigation will continue.

Audrey also outlined other cases involving race and admissions and potential issues on the horizon as private cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) and other plaintiffs seek to have the issue heard by the Supreme Court.

Audrey was interviewed during the “High School Coach Wants to Pray on the 50-Yard Line” podcast that was released on February 9 by Bloomberg Law and is available online or wherever you get your podcast content.