WASHINGTON _ The Justice Department is launching an examination of "race-based discrimination" in college admissions, alarming some civil rights advocates who fear an effort by the Trump administration to roll back affirmative action policies.
In an internal job posting memo obtained by The New York Times, the department's civil rights division said it was seeking lawyers willing to work on an investigation involving race-based policies in universities.
A Justice Department official said Wednesday that the job posting does not necessarily signal a policy shift toward attacking race-conscious policies in admissions programs.
"Whenever there's a credible allegation of discrimination on the basis of race, the department will look into it," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a pending investigation.
The Supreme Court has upheld the use of race as one factor in evaluating who is admitted to college, most recently in a 4-3 decision last year that upheld an affirmative action policy at the University of Texas.
Some administration officials have histories of challenging such policies. And under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the department already has moved away from some of the civil rights policies of the Obama administration, ending the department's opposition to a Texas voter identification law, for example.
The department also filed a brief last month in an employment discrimination case arguing that the Civil Rights Act does not protect people who are fired because of their sexual orientation.
