On Thursday, June 4, 2026, President Trump’s Justice Department announced fifteen new investigations into potential race discrimination in medical school admissions.
This action follows the division’s recent findings that both UCLA and Yale University illegally used race in their medical school admissions processes.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon stated: “Many of America’s top medical schools appear more concerned about the demographics of their incoming classes than training students to succeed in the profession.” The Civil Rights Division emphasized that under its administration, it will continue to protect American students from discriminatory and illegal preferences in admissions—especially in critical professions like medicine where quality of training should be the top priority.
Each of the fifteen institutions receives millions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding, making them bound by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The investigations will examine compliance with federal law as interpreted by the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College.
The Department noted it has not reached any conclusions about the investigations. These probes are designed to ensure students become doctors based on merit, not race. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights had previously issued a “Dear Colleague” letter clarifying that race-based criteria or racial stereotypes violate federal law.
