The U.S. Department of Justice found the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine violated federal anti-discrimination law by using racial proxies in its admissions process. DOJ said the school ranked applicants using class-based “socioeconomic variables” and disadvantages such as parental education and underserved-area experience, which the agency concluded operate as proxies for race in conflict with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on affirmative action in admissions. DOJ said UC Davis also weighted other metrics—such as GPA and MCAT scores—depending on applicant performance in those rankings, and that the overall approach circumvented federal and Supreme Court limits. DOJ framed the finding as creating potential public health consequences by putting race proxies over merit, skill, and competence. The announcement follows similar investigations involving medical schools, including allegations centered on how “socioeconomic” frameworks function in admissions. UC Davis, a public institution, could face legal remedies if settlement negotiations fail, with DOJ indicating it could sue and seek compliance changes. For higher education leaders, the case underscores the compliance risk in medical admissions and other selective programs that use structured composite scoring systems—especially when “disadvantage” metrics correlate with race in ways courts may treat as impermissible.