The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights probe into the Duke Law Journal after a conservative news outlet reported the academic publication factored law students' racial and ethnic identities when selecting editors.

The Trump administration has identified a new target in its battle with elite higher education, announcing a two-pronged front against Duke University on allegations the North Carolina school is in violation of the Civil Rights Act.

Applicants could receive as many as 10 points for writing about how their “membership in an underrepresented group” would “lend itself to …  promoting diverse voices,” the