Press Release, Justice Department Finds UCLA Law School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions:
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today investigative findings that the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law (UCLA Law) discriminated against white and Asian students in granting admission to its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes. UCLA Law’s discriminatory conduct violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race or color, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), which banned race discrimination in admissions.
“Like many of its peer institutions, UCLA Law School runs a two-tiered admissions system whose academic bar for acceptance shifts up or down depending on the color of your skin,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The use of race as a thumb on the scale that helps or disadvantages any student is illegal. The Department will continue to enforce equal treatment under the law everywhere — including in our nation’s law schools.”
The Department’s investigation found that post-SFFA, UCLA Law’s application includes personal statements and essay prompts, which are designed to elicit information about race. And UCLA Law’s admissions staff instructed prospective applicants how to reveal their race in these sections of the application—during race-based recruitment efforts, such as its annual “Diversity Admissions Open House”.
The Department’s analysis revealed that UCLA Law rejected white and Asian applicants who had the same LSAT scores as admitted black and Hispanic applicants. Plainly, lower-scoring white and Asian applicants would have been admitted by UCLA Law if they were black or Hispanic. Further, in 2024 and 2025 (combined), half of the admitted black applicants had LSAT scores that were at or below 90% of the admitted white applicants.
Press coverage:
- Daily Bruin, DOJ Accuses UCLA School of Law of Racially Discriminating in Admissions Processes
- Law.com, DOJ Accuses UCLA Law of Racial Discrimination in Admissions
- Law360, UCLA Law Is Latest DOJ Target Over Race Bias In Admissions
- Los Angeles Magazine, DOJ Challenges UCLA Law’s Admissions Practices
- Los Angeles Times, Justice Department Accuses UCLA Law School of Illegally Using Race in Admissions
- National Review, UCLA Law School Discriminated Against Whites, Asians in Admissions, DOJ Finds
- Reuters, Trump Administration Claims Racial Bias at UCLA in Law School Crackdown
Editor’s Note: If you would like to receive a daily email with links to legal education posts on TaxProf Blog, email me here.
