Justice Department says UC Davis med school violated rights

The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that the University of California, Davis School of Medicine violated federal civil rights law by discriminating on the basis of race in its admissions process. The findings, announced on June 10, 2026, conclude a six-month investigation into the medical school's practices for the incoming classes of 2023 through 2025.

Federal officials allege the school adopted admissions practices designed to circumvent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling that banned race-conscious admissions in higher education. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division claims the school favored Black and Latino applicants over white and Asian applicants with stronger academic credentials. An analysis of admissions data from 2023 to 2025 reportedly found that Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted at rates up to six times higher than white and Asian applicants, and that 93 percent of admitted white and certain Asian students had Medical College Admission Test scores at or above those of admitted Black students.

Central to the allegations is a tool called the Davis Scale, which the school developed to assess applicants' socioeconomic disadvantage based on...