The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday that the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) illegally considered race in its admissions. This follows a similar accusation against the university’s medical school.
The DOJ alleges that UCLA’s law school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favouring Black and Hispanic applicants in its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes. An analysis by the department reportedly found that the mean LSAT score was lower for admitted Black applicants than for admitted white applicants. The department also stated that admissions staff instructed applicants on how to reveal their race in essays during recruitment efforts, including an event called the “Diversity Admissions Open House.”
UCLA School of Law has denied the accusations. In a statement, the school said it is committed to making admissions decisions in compliance with all applicable laws and that students are admitted through a comprehensive, merit-based review process. Harmeet Dhillon, head of the justice department’s civil rights division, stated that UCLA Law School operates a “two-tiered admissions system whose academic bar for acceptance shifts up or down depending on the color of your skin.”
Affirmative action in college admissions has been illegal in the US since a 2023 Supreme Court ruling. The ruling allowed colleges to assess how applicants’ backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but the Trump administration has accused colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration attempted to compel higher education institutions to release data on the race and sex of applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students to investigate potential race-based admissions. However, a federal judge in August halted this effort, granting a preliminary injunction after 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed suit. The judge noted that while the federal government likely had the authority to collect the data, the demand was rolled out in a “rushed and chaotic” manner.