DOJ Civil Rights Division found UCLA medical school discriminated based on race in admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 6, 2026 that it had determined, following a year-long investigation, that the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles intentionally discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of federal law and the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which barred race-conscious college admissions. The department said its investigation found that admitted Black and Hispanic applicants had consistently lower academic qualifications than their white and Asian counterparts, which it characterized as evidence that UCLA prioritized racial demographics over merit.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said UCLA's "admissions process has been focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence," and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California said race discrimination "has no place" under federal law and Supreme Court precedent. The department said it retained authority to bring federal court action and that it was continuing a broader effort to eradicate what it called illegal race politics from admissions at medical schools.

The UCLA finding is one of a series of Civil Rights Division actions targeting medical-school admissions in 2026, alongside determinations against Yale and the University of California, Davis and an expansion of admissions investigations to 15 additional medical schools. UCLA, which receives substantial federal funding, was among the institutions the division had publicly identified as targets of the campaign.