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There was even a United States senator who claimed to be Native American, was awarded academic positions based on that, but a DNA test proved her native ancestry to be so minuscule as to not even be measurable.

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The part about 'was awarded academic positions based on that' is debatable, e.g. this claim was investigated by a newspaper (article below is titled 'Ethnicity not a factor in Elizabeth Warren's rise in law'):

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/09/01/did-claim...

I think it is pretty hard to investigate this and prove it false, as such decisions are often very opaque.

My guess is if she marked Native American on any application form or was considered by the insitution to be Native American, it had an impact.

Elizabeth Warren

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