For the great majority of applicants, Asian Americans and whites have only one-tenth to one-fourth of the likelihood of admission as African-American applicants with comparable academic credentials, according to the release. Yale rejects scores of Asian-American and white applicants each year based on their race, whom it otherwise would admit.

Although the Supreme Court has held that colleges receiving federal funds may consider applicants’ race in certain limited circumstances as one of a number of factors, the Department of Justice found Yale’s use of race is anything but limited. Yale uses race at multiple steps of its admissions process, resulting in a multiplied effect of race on an applicant’s likelihood of admission, and Yale racially balances its classes.