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UCLA law school accused by justice department of illegally using race in admissions

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Guardian staff. (2026, October 2). UCLA law school accused by justice department of illegally using race in admissions. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/02/ucla-law-school-doj-findings

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-02 · by Guardian staff

Quick Summary

The Department of Justice accused UCLA’s law school of illegally considering race in admissions, following a similar accusation against the university’s medical school. The DOJ claims that UCLA favored Black and Hispanic applicants with lower LSAT scores over white and Asian American applicants in its 2023 to 2025 incoming classes. In response, UCLA stated it uses a merit-based review process compliant with all laws. The article highlights tensions between the Trump administration’s enforcement actions and universities’ practices regarding affirmative action.
Written by AI on 2026-10-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The Justice Department announced on Thursday that the UCLA School of Law illegally considered race in its admissions process, following a similar finding against UCLA’s medical school. This action comes as President Donald Trump's administration intensifies scrutiny over colleges' admissions procedures. The department has also accused UC Berkeley Law School and the medical school at UC San Diego of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants. In response, UCLA stated that its admissions are based on a comprehensive, merit-based process considering each applicant’s achievements and experiences, expressing confidence in their compliance with all applicable laws. Affirmative action was deemed illegal for college admissions by the Supreme Court in 2023, though the ruling allows colleges to assess how applicants' backgrounds might relate to broader characteristics.

Written for “UCLA Law School Admissions Controversy” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 UCLA Law School Admissions Controversy
Education · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 7% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Independent
Hedges 1 of 16 claims Outlet record 59/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
7%
1 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Education
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-02 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 1995 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Guardian staff
77 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by Guardian staff
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 77 articles by Guardian staff →

Topics

Black The Department of Justice the UC Berkeley School of Law the University of California, Los Angeles the University of California, San Diego

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 3× Black NORP · 2× Asian NORP · 1× The Department of Justice ORG · 1× The UCLA School of Law ORG · 1× UCLA ORG · 1× supreme court ORG · 1× the UC Berkeley School of Law ORG · 1× the University of California, Los Angeles ORG · 1× the University of California, San Diego ORG · 1×

Narrative

The announcement follows a similar accusation against the university’s medical school and comes as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges’ processes for selecting students. The Trump administration has also accused the UC Berkeley School of Law and the medical school at the University of California, San Diego of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-02
🔮 The same ruling said colleges could continue to assess how applicants’ backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but the president has accused colleges of using applicants’ personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions – which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.

Claims (15 extracted, 1 hedged)

The Department of Justice said on Thursday that the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles illegally considered race in admissions. asserted
school → say → admissions
The announcement follows a similar accusation against the university’s medical school and comes as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges’ processes for selecting students. The Trump administration has also accused the UC Berkeley School of Law and the medical school at the University of California, San Diego of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants. asserted
administration → follow → applicants
The UCLA School of Law denied the accusations and said in a statement that it was committed to making admissions decisions in compliance with all applicable laws. asserted
it → deny → laws
“Students are admitted through a comprehensive, merit-based review process that considers each applicant’s achievements and experiences,” the statement said. asserted
statement → admit → achievements
Affirmative action in college admissions has been illegal since a 2023 supreme court ruling forbade it. asserted
ruling → forbid → it
The same ruling said colleges could continue to assess how applicants’ backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but the president has accused colleges of using applicants’ personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions – which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. uncertain
conservatives → say → discrimination
The justice department said UCLA’s law school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants in its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. asserted
school → say → classes
The department said its analysis found the mean LSAT score was lower for admitted Black applicants than for admitted white applicants. asserted
score → say → applicants
The department also said admissions staff at the law school instructed applicants during recruitment efforts, including one called the “Diversity Admissions Open House”, how to reveal their race in essays. asserted
staff → say → essays
“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 Harmeet Dhillon, head of the justice department’s civil rights division, in a news release. asserted
Dhillon → run → release
The Trump administration earlier this year tried to compel higher education institutions to release data including the race and sex of colleges’ applicants, admitted students and enrolled students to enable it to investigate whether the schools were considering race in admissions. asserted
schools → try → admissions
A federal judge in August halted that effort, granting a preliminary injunction after 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed suit. asserted
general → halt → suit
The federal judge said the federal government probably had the authority to collect the data, but the demand was rolled out to universities in a “rushed and chaotic” manner. asserted
demand → say → manner
The states argued the data collection risked invading student privacy and leading to baseless investigations of colleges and universities. asserted
collection → argue → colleges
They also argued that universities had not been given enough time to collect the data. asserted
universities → argue → data
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