EXCLUSIVE: UCLA Law Discriminated Against White And Asian Students, DOJ Says

A Department of Justice investigation found that the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law has illegally discriminated based on race in admissions, the Daily Caller News Foundation first learned.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is alleging that UCLA Law discriminated against white and Asian students in granting admission to its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. UCLA Law’s alleged discriminatory conduct violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and also the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which prohibited racial discrimination in admissions, according to the Department.

“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,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told the DCNF in a statement. “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,” Dhillon continued.

UCLA Law did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

The Department’s probe found that UCLA Law’s application includes personal statements and essay prompts intended to extract information about race. Additionally, UCLA Law’s admissions staff told prospective applicants how to reveal their race in these sections of the application during certain race-based recruitment efforts, according to the DOJ.

Additionally, the Department found that UCLA Law rejected white and Asian applicants who had the same LSAT scores as admitted black and Hispanic applicants. Moreover, half of the total admitted black applicants had LSAT scores that were at or below 90% of the admitted white applicants in 2024 and 2025 combined, the DOJ’s investigation found.

The DOJ announced in May that it was suing UCLA for allegedly creating an “antisemitic hostile educational environment,” just a few months after filing a separate lawsuit against the university over similar allegations. On Wednesday, UCLA asked a judge to terminate the antisemitism lawsuit against it, alleging that the Trump administration was “weaponizing” civil rights laws, The New York Times reported.

The Trump administration has been cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and racial preferences in schools in recent months. In early September, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service introduced regulations that would end the federal tax-exempt status for private schools that discriminate on the basis of race rather than rewarding merit, the Daily Caller first reported.

President Donald Trump issued a January 2025 executive order to “end illegal discrimination” and restore “merit-based opportunity” in the U.S.

AUTHOR

Ireland Owens

Reporter

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