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DOJ Civil Rights Division found Yale School of Medicine discriminated based on race in admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 14, 2026 that it had determined Yale University's School of Medicine discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said Yale's leadership intentionally selected applicants by race and studied racial proxies to circumvent that ruling, citing data showing Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted with lower academic qualifications than White and Asian applicants. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said Yale "continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public's clear mandate."

Part of: Trump DOJ Medical School Race-Discrimination Campaign

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced it had determined, following an investigation, that Yale University's School of Medicine "discriminated based on race" in its admissions process, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which barred race-conscious college admissions. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said Yale "continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public's clear mandate for reform."

DOJ alleged Yale's leadership intentionally selected applicants by race and studied racial proxies to circumvent SFFA, citing data it said showed Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted with consistently lower academic qualifications than White and Asian applicants — including, DOJ said, a Black applicant having roughly 29 times higher odds of receiving an admission interview than an equally credentialed Asian applicant. DOJ said it would pursue a voluntary resolution agreement but retained authority to bring federal court action if Yale did not comply. Yale did not immediately respond to the finding.

The Yale finding is one of a series of Civil Rights Division actions targeting medical-school admissions in 2026, alongside determinations against UCLA and the University of California, Davis and an expansion of admissions investigations to 15 additional medical schools announced June 4, 2026.

Updates

2026-07-13 — Yale confirms DOJ inquiry expanded to Yale College and Law School [3, 4]

Yale President Maurie McInnis confirmed in a message to the university community that the Justice Department's inquiry, which produced the May 14 medical-school finding, had expanded to Yale College and Yale Law School admissions, and that Yale was "engaged in this process of talking and listening" with DOJ toward a possible resolution "without further legal action." McInnis said Yale had clarified academic-achievement expectations and reinforced admissions staff training on legal compliance. Reporting the same week described organized student and faculty opposition to a possible settlement; as of this writing no settlement had been finalized.

Why we recorded this

The Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard banned race-conscious college admissions nationwide. When the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division investigates and publicly announces that a specific medical school evaded that ruling through race-conscious admissions practices, it is enforcing a real constitutional boundary — but this action is part of a broader Civil Rights Division campaign that has opened investigations and issued findings against 18 medical schools since March 2026, using enforcement power built for protecting equal treatment to instead pressure schools away from any consideration of race. This archive records when civil-rights enforcement authority is deployed as a political instrument against a broad class of institutions rather than through case-by-case adjudication.

Sources

  1. Justice Department Investigation Determines Yale's Medical School Discriminated Based on Race in Admissions — U.S. Department of Justice primary accessed August 19, 2026
  2. DOJ accuses Yale med school of illegally using race in admissions — CT Mirror investigative accessed August 19, 2026
  3. Message from the President — Yale Office of the President primary accessed August 19, 2026
  4. Yale faces backlash for talks with the Justice Department regarding its admissions — ABC News investigative accessed August 19, 2026

See also