The Trump administration is seeking to join a lawsuit accusing the UCLA Medical School of engaging in racial discrimination in its admissions process, according to court papers obtained Thursday.
In a complaint filed Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges that UCLA’s medical school uses a “systemically racist approach” to admissions that favors Black and Latino applicants over those who are white and Asian American.
The DOJ is seeking to join plaintiffs in the suit brought by an organization that opposes what it sees as diversity initiatives in medicine.
The proposed class-action suit filed by Virginia-based Do No Harm against UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine contends that the university continues to practice “race-conscious” admissions under the guise of “holistic admissions” and ignores federal law by discriminating against applicants on the basis of race.
A 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling determined that diversity programs for college admissions are unconstitutional.
In its 17-page motion to intervene, the DOJ wrote that the use of racial preferences in admissions can cause “disastrous outcomes.”
According to government attorneys, if medical schools “lower their academic standards to obtain the `right’ racial mix, the result is less well academically qualified doctors practicing medicine.”
The motion is scheduled to be heard Feb. 27 in Santa Ana federal court before U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb.
A UCLA medical school spokesperson said UCLA does not comment on pending litigation.
“UCLA’s medical school is committed to fair processes in all of our programs and activities, including admissions, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws,” according to the spokesperson.
DNH alleges that a white member of the organization was “unfairly rejected by Geffen, despite stellar academic achievements.” The group also contends that Geffen’s dean of admissions has both publicly and privately “said she uses race as a factor in making admission decisions.”
The organization further alleges that whistleblower accounts describe how the Geffen admissions committee “routinely gives Black and Latino applicants a pass for subpar metrics” and that “whites and Asians need near-perfect scores to even be considered.”
DNH founder Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said when the lawsuit was filed in May 2025 that the organization “is fighting for all the students who have been racially discriminated against by UCLA under the guise of political progress. All medical schools must abide by the law of the land and prioritize merit, not immutable characteristics, in admissions.”
Goldfarb, a former dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school and a retired kidney doctor, founded DNH four years ago “to safeguard health care from ideological threats,” the DNH website says.