The U.S. Department of Justice alleged that the UC Davis School of Medicine violated federal civil-rights law by using socioeconomic variables as racial proxies in its admissions process. DOJ announced it will seek legal remedies, including a lawsuit if negotiations fail to restore compliance. DOJ’s finding is tied to how UC Davis ranked applicants using class-based measures such as parental education and receipt of “disadvantages,” alongside other metrics like GPA and MCAT scores. DOJ said the approach circumvented the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on race-conscious admissions, characterizing UC Davis as prioritizing prohibited proxies. UC Davis had described its Davis Scale as a way to capture an applicant’s educational opportunities without using race directly, and previously promoted related messaging about increasing diversity. Legal experts cited in coverage said the dispute turns on how the Trump administration interprets the Supreme Court’s ruling and whether the DOJ approach constitutes administrative overreach.