According to the DOJ, Duke used applicant essays, review tags, and background characteristics associated with race to preserve racial preferences after the Supreme Court's decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. Duke's published policy claimed admissions reviewers did not see applicants' racial demographic information. The Justice Department found those supposedly race-neutral factors were used as proxies to advance the school’s racial diversity goals. More damaging, rejected white and Asian applicants posted higher median scores than admitted Black applicants in both years. A law school tried to lawyer its way around a Supreme Court ruling.