U.S. Justice Department Targets UC Irvine For Anti-DEI Compliance

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announcing that it is investigating the admissions policies at UCLA and UC Irvine is nothing but a political stunt, according to an Irvine lawyer.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced in a press release last week that the DOJ is probing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices to ensure the prestigious universities aren’t using multicultural criteria to admit students.

“This is policy by press release,” said Lee Fink, an attorney with the Brower Law Group in Irvine. “The DOJ doesn’t have any intent or ability to follow up with this but it makes the Make American Great Again (MAGA) crowd happy for a few minutes and it distracts from damaging tariffs.”

DEI are organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have been historically wronged and been underrepresented based on identity or disability.

But after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellow of Harvard College, colleges and universities nationwide were banned from selecting students for admission based on race.

Under the Trump administration, the DOJ is enforcing the opinion.

“President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country,” Bondi said in a press release posted online. “Every student in America deserves to be judged solely based on their hard work, intellect and character, not the color of their skin.”

Bondi further accused former U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris of advancing DEI ideology at the expense of civil rights. California, however, is ahead of the current trend, according to Fink.

Voters Prohibited Affirmative Action in 1996

Voters outlawed affirmative action in 1996 when they approved Proposition 209, which prevents state and local governments from hiring preferentially based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or nationality.

“What they’re talking about just doesn’t exist in California,” Fink told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “The Trump administration is targeting California because Californians have repeatedly rejected Trump by 20-to-25 point margins and they’re targeting Irvine because Orange County has never voted for Donald Trump and never will.”

At 59 percent of those earning less than $25,000 a year, Democratic presidential candidate and former vice president Kamala Harris won the vote of the poorest Orange County residents while Trump took the vote of those earning $50,000 to $100,000 annually, according to a UCI OC poll explaining the 2024 elections.

Residents earning more than $100,000 per year were split.

“Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion has been important to the Orange County Bar Association, has been important to the legal profession, has been important to education and educational institutions for years because we find that when we don’t, we have problems,” Fink added. “When we do have it, we have stronger institutions, better students, a better and a stronger society.”

Related Media:

• UC Irvine Professor of Law Reacts to Overturned Affirmative Action
• Jewish Groups Sue Santa Ana Unified Over Ethnic Studies Requirement
• Chicanxs Unidxs and ACLU Sue Orange County DA Over Public Records Access

The Orange County Bar Association states on its website that it maintains a DEI committee to develop and implement strategic initiatives to increase diversity and provide wider access to justice in the Orange County legal community.

The National Center for Education Statistics found that by the time they are over 25-years-old, 68 percent of white Americans have the necessary education and skills to access most good jobs compared to only 39 percent of Latinos and 55 percent of Black Americans.

*Featured image created by Grok
*Photo of Lee Fink Courtesy BrowerLawGroup.com