The Trump administration on Wednesday sought to join a lawsuit filed in federal court that accuses UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine of illegally monitoring the admissions process.
In documents filed in the Central District of California, the Department of Justice alleges that UCLA’s medical school uses a “systematic pattern of discrimination” in admissions that favors black and Latino applicants over white and Asian Americans.
Justice Department attorneys also said the school is engaging in “racial profiling” — trying to create a racist student body in California — in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution and a 2023 US Supreme Court ruling that banned race-based affirmative action policies in college admissions.
The 17-page filing responds to a May lawsuit by Do No Harm — a group founded in 2022 to oppose the “disastrous effects of ownership politics” in medicine — and Students for Fair Admissions, the organization that filed the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court decision. Kelly Mahoney, a white woman who said she was rejected from UCLA medical school because of her race, is also a plaintiff.
The first lawsuit revealed unnamed “whistleblowers” who said Jennifer Lucero, the medical school’s director of admissions, “required applicants to submit responses intended to allow the committee to gather an applicant’s race” and that she and admissions officers “regularly and openly” discussed using race to admit students.
Lucero did not respond to an email seeking comment. In a statement, UCLA School of Medicine spokesman Phil Hampton said UCLA does not comment on litigation.
“The UCLA School of Medicine is committed to fair procedures in all of our programs and operations, including admissions, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws,” Hampton said.
Under state law, UCLA is required to comply with Proposition 209, which in 1997 banned the use of race in admissions to public institutions.
In a statement, US Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said the court’s intervention is “the latest effort by the Department of Justice to hold our universities accountable for an illegal policy — especially in the state of California.”
In a court filing and news release, the US government said it has revised the Median Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, scores obtained at UCLA for four consecutive years starting with the incoming class of 2021. Those scores, the Justice Department said in court documents, show lower medians for Black and Latino high school graduates (506 to 509) compared to 5 for white Americans and 51 for Asian Americans (5 to 1 Asian white).
The medical school has no minimum MCAT score requirement and uses a comprehensive test that considers areas outside of test scores and grades, according to UCLA’s website.
The government’s filing uses quotes from admissions officials published in the Free Beacon, a conservative news site, as evidence that the medical school used race in admissions.
It also cited an amicus brief the University of California filed in the 2023 affirmative action lawsuit saying “UC’s experience shows that at some universities — particularly highly selective institutions — race-neutral approaches may be insufficient, requiring the university to engage in racially limited consideration.” And the filing points to UC’s published 2030 plan that stated the goal of “reflecting the diversity of California.”
US District Judge John W. Holcomb must approve the Justice Department’s request before the Trump administration can officially join the suit as a plaintiff.
The Justice Department’s action against the medical school is the latest in several moves by Republican leadership and the Trump administration to investigate allegations of wrongdoing at UC and its medical facilities.
On August 25, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) sent letters to UCLA and UC San Francisco medical schools ordering each to submit internal documents over the years about how the schools responded to the allegations. Walberg cited reports of Jewish people who were “hostile and fearful” and said schools did not “respond in a meaningful way.”
The letter followed a $1.2-billion settlement request sent to UCLA on Aug. 8, alleging that the university violated federal law by using race in admissions, recognizing transgender women for their gender identity and not responding adequately to complaints of alleged anti-Semitism during the 2024 encampmentian.
On Nov. 14, US District Judge Rita F. Lin blocked most of the settlement proposal. This month, the US appealed his decision to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
