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DOJ Civil Rights Division opens 15 new race-discrimination probes into medical school admissions

On June 4, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced it had opened 15 new investigations into U.S. medical schools over alleged race discrimination in admissions, expanding a campaign that had already produced adverse findings against the medical schools of Yale University and UCLA. The Division said it would examine whether the schools — each a recipient of millions of dollars in federal funding — comply with Title VI as interpreted by the Supreme Court's 2023 decision restricting race-conscious admissions. The schools under investigation were not publicly named.

Part of: Trump DOJ Medical School Race-Discrimination Campaign

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 4, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced that it had opened 15 new investigations into potential race discrimination in the admissions practices of U.S. medical schools. The Division did not name the schools, but said each receives millions of dollars in federal funding and would be examined for compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act as interpreted by the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which barred race-conscious admissions. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the schools "appear more concerned about the demographics of their incoming classes than training students to succeed in the profession."

The simultaneous opening of 15 probes follows earlier adverse findings the Division announced in May 2026 against the medical schools of Yale University and UCLA, which it accused of unlawfully advantaging Black and Hispanic applicants, and a set of Title VI probes opened in March 2026 into Ohio State, Stanford, and the University of California, San Diego. The Division stated it had not reached any conclusions about the new investigations.

The action continues a pattern in which the Civil Rights Division — historically the federal enforcer of anti-discrimination law on behalf of marginalized groups — is directed to pursue race-conscious admissions and diversity practices as the violation, on a reverse-discrimination theory grounded in SFFA. Opening 15 investigations at once, on the heels of the Yale and UCLA findings and with federal funding as implied leverage, reflects a coordinated enforcement campaign rather than case-by-case review: the investigative power of the Department is deployed as an instrument of administration policy (politicized investigations and weaponizing the Justice Department), while the reinterpretation of Title VI to bar diversity-oriented admissions narrows the civil-rights protections the statute was enacted to provide.

Why we recorded this

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division was created to enforce anti-discrimination law impartially, not to advance a policy agenda. When the Division simultaneously opens 15 investigations into schools over admissions diversity practices — coordinated by policy rather than case-by-case complaint — it deploys investigative power as a political enforcement instrument. Federal funding serves as the lever: schools risk millions of dollars in support if they maintain programs the administration opposes. This pattern narrows the practical reach of civil-rights protections Congress enacted to prevent discrimination, and turns the Department's coercive authority against the diversity practices that law was designed to permit. We record politicized investigations and weaponizing-doj when the government's investigative power targets administration opponents rather than responds impartially to documented violations.

Sources

  1. Justice Department Expands Admissions Investigations into 15 Additional Medical Schools — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs primary accessed June 5, 2026
  2. DOJ opens 15 civil rights probes into medical school admissions — Higher Ed Dive investigative accessed June 5, 2026
  3. DOJ opens 15 new investigations into medical schools' admissions — The Hill secondary accessed June 5, 2026
  4. Justice Department Investigation Determines Yale's Medical School Discriminated Based on Race in Admissions — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs secondary accessed June 5, 2026

See also