WASHINGTON—The Justice Department said UCLA School of Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions for its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes, finding that the school continued to consider race after the Supreme Court restricted race-conscious college admissions.
The department’s Civil Rights Division said its investigation found UCLA Law violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race or color by recipients of federal financial assistance.
The findings follow the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which sharply limited the use of race in college 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,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said.
According to the Justice Department, UCLA Law’s application process after the Supreme Court ruling included personal statements and essay prompts that could reveal an applicant’s racial background. Investigators also said admissions personnel advised prospective students on how race could be discussed in those portions of the application.
The department said its analysis of admissions data found differences in acceptance rates and academic credentials among racial groups.
For the 2025 incoming class, the department said Black applicants had roughly seven times the odds of admission compared with otherwise equivalent white applicants, while Hispanic applicants had about twice the odds.
The Justice Department also pointed to differences in LSAT scores among admitted students. It said the median LSAT score for admitted white applicants in 2025 was 172, compared with 168 for admitted Black applicants. Across 2024 and 2025 combined, the department said half of admitted Black applicants had LSAT scores at or below those of 90% of admitted white applicants.
The department said its investigation also reviewed internal communications and admissions events that it contends showed UCLA Law remained focused on the racial composition of incoming classes after the Supreme Court ruling.
UCLA Law officials have previously said the school uses a holistic admissions process and has operated under California’s Proposition 209, which prohibits state institutions from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.
The Justice Department said it will seek a voluntary resolution with the university to bring its admissions practices into compliance with federal law. If a settlement isn’t reached, the department said it could pursue enforcement action.
The findings add UCLA Law to a broader federal examination of university admissions practices following the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling and could provide another test of how schools structure holistic admissions systems without directly using race as a factor.