Affirmative Action And Racial Diversity In U.S. Law Schools, 1980-2021

Richard R. W. Brooks (NYU), Kyle Rozema (Northwestern; Google Scholar) & Sarath Sanga (Yale; Google Scholar), Affirmative Action and Racial Diversity in U.S. Law Schools, 1980-2021:

We use novel data on enrollment in every U.S. law school since 1980 to study trends in racial diversity and the impact of state-level affirmative action bans. Minority law students have been underrepresented in 80 to 90 percent of entering law school classes, but the magnitude of their underrepresentation has decreased substantially. On average, state-level affirmative action bans decrease racial diversity by 10 to 17 percent. Black and Hispanic students account for nearly all this decline.

ConclusionAlthough racial diversity in law school student bodies has kept pace with changing demographics of the United States, it has not increased enough to catch up to absolute levels. Large differences across law schools have persisted over time. State-level affirmative action bans decrease minority shares by 10 to 17 percent. Black and Hispanic students account for nearly all of this decline.