The Department of Justice on Thursday alleged that UCLA’s law school violated federal law by taking race into account during its admissions process. The accusation marked the latest in a series of similar claims the Trump administration has leveled against University of California institutions, including the medical schools at UCLA and UC San Diego and the law school at UC Berkeley. All of these schools are accused of having discriminated against white and Asian American applicants.
According to the Justice Department’s analysis, the law school maintained different academic standards for applicants of different racial backgrounds. The department cited data showing that admitted Black applicants had lower mean LSAT scores than admitted white applicants. Additionally, the Justice Department stated that admissions staff at the law school provided guidance to applicants about how to disclose their race in essay portions of applications, including during recruitment events such as a “Diversity Admissions Open House.”
Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s civil rights division, characterized UCLA Law School’s system as a “two-tiered admissions” framework. UCLA Law School denied the allegations in a statement, asserting that its admissions process was merit-based and comprehensive, evaluating each applicant’s achievements and experiences while complying with applicable laws.
The enforcement action follows a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that barred affirmative action in college admissions. The Trump administration has argued that colleges are circumventing this prohibition by using application essays and other materials as proxies to consider applicants’ race. The administration attempted earlier this year to compel universities to release detailed demographic data on applicants and admitted students to facilitate investigations, but a federal judge in August blocked that effort, finding the data collection request had been implemented in a rushed manner and raised privacy concerns.
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