The Justice Department investigation, led by its Civil Rights Division, will examine admissions policies at Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles and University of California Irvine. Stanford already is in compliance with federal law, spokeperson Dee Mostofi said Thursday.

Stanford and UC Berkeley are among the four California universities being investigated in a new federal probe launched Thursday over "illegal DEI" admissions practices. Why it matters: President Trump has threatened to cut federal funding from schools that use race as a determining factor in their admissions,

The schools may be in violation of a landmark Supreme Court ruling banning colleges and universities from using race-based admissions criteria.