The US Department of Justice found on Wednesday that the medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles illegally considered race in admissions as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges’ processes for selecting students.

The finding escalates the Trump administration’s ongoing standoff with UCLA, which has focused mostly on the main campus’s response to allegations of antisemitic harassment.

The David Geffen school of medicine at UCLA said in a written statement that its admissions process is “based on merit” and that it is committed to complying with state and federal laws. It said it is reviewing the justice department findings.

Affirmative action in college admissions has been illegal since a 2023 supreme court ruling forbade it. The same ruling said colleges could continue to assess how applicants’ backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but Donald Trump has accused colleges of using applicants’ personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.

In March, the justice department opened investigations into possible race-based discrimination in medical school admissions at Stanford University, Ohio State University and the University of California, San Diego. The Trump administration previously targeted undergraduate admissions at selective colleges, demanding they collect data to show they are complying with the supreme court ruling.

A year-long investigation into UCLA by the justice department found its medical school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants.

As part of its evidence, the department cited data showing admitted students who were Black or Hispanic had lower average grade-point averages and test scores in 2023 and 2024. Among Black students admitted in 2024, the average GPA was 3.72, for example, compared with 3.84 for Asian Americans and 3.83 for white students.

The department says that is evidence the medical school was using non-academic factors to achieve diversity goals.

“As a result of these practices, highly qualified White, Asian, and other students were denied admission on the basis of their race,” said Harmeet Dhillon, head of the justice department’s civil rights division, in a letter of findings.

The department also took issue with an application document inviting students to volunteer whether they are part of a marginalized group and, if so, to discuss its impact. The question was included in the application process in 2024 and 2025, the department said.

California voters ended affirmative action in college admissions in a 1997 ballot measure. In a brief filed in the supreme court case, the UC system said the change led to a precipitous drop in underrepresented minorities, especially at the system’s most selective campuses.

The brief said UC went on to implement “numerous and wide-ranging race-neutral measures designed to increase diversity of all sorts, including racial diversity”. Even so, the system said it had struggled to increase campus diversity.

The Trump administration finding sets the stage for a voluntary resolution to bring UCLA into compliance with the justice department’s legal interpretation or, if none can be reached, potential legal action. Penalties could include a loss of federal funding.

In March, a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they are not considering race in admissions.