Justice Department Says UCLA Law Considered Race in Admissions
The U.S. Department of Justice said on Oct. 1 that UCLA School of Law illegally considered race in admissions. The Civil Rights Division announced the finding in a press release titled "Justice Department Finds UCLA Law School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions." The Guardian
The department said the school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. Its analysis found that white and Asian applicants were rejected even when they had the same LSAT scores, the standard entrance test for law school, as admitted Black applicants. The average LSAT score was lower for admitted Black applicants than for admitted white applicants. U.S. Department of Justice
The department also said admissions staff used recruitment events including the 'Diversity Admissions Open House' to instruct applicants how to reveal their race in essays. In the department's account, that conduct violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race or color, and the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which banned race discrimination in admissions. Harmeet Dhillon heads the department's civil rights division.
UCLA Law denies the claim. The school said it is committed to making admissions decisions in compliance with all applicable laws. It said students are admitted through a comprehensive, merit-based review process that considers each applicant's achievements and experiences.
The dispute is not isolated. The Trump administration has accused the UC Berkeley School of Law and the medical school at UC San Diego of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants. Earlier this year it tried to compel colleges to release data including the race and sex of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. A federal judge in August granted a preliminary injunction, a temporary court order that pauses action while a case continues, halting that data collection after 17 Democratic state attorneys general sued.
The UCLA Law finding follows a separate finding on May 6, 2026, when the Justice Department found that UCLA's medical school illegally considered race in admissions.
The broader context here is enforcement leverage rather than a court ruling. A Justice Department finding of a Title VI violation does not by itself decide liability. It creates a public record that can support negotiation, a settlement requiring changes to admissions procedures and monitoring, or further action by the department. Think of it like a formal warning that can lead to a lawsuit if not resolved. For university lawyers and admissions offices, the details the department published carry weight. Test-score comparisons across racial groups, and written recruitment language about disclosing race in essays, are the kinds of evidence the department is likely to seek elsewhere.
Looking at what this could mean for other universities, two tracks are running at once. The administration is pursuing school-specific investigations while seeking sector-wide admissions data. The August injunction paused the second track. The first track continues. UCLA's denial sets up a contested factual record over how holistic review, the practice of reading the whole application and not just scores, operated after Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, and how admissions officials communicated with applicants. That contest will shape compliance advice well beyond Los Angeles.
