The Department of Justice opened investigations into 15 medical schools for allegedly using race as a factor in admissions decisions, the agency announced. The move follows DOJ findings that the medical schools at UCLA and Yale University violated federal law by considering race in their selection processes.

The investigations target schools nationwide and represent an expansion of the DOJ's enforcement efforts around affirmative action in medical education. The agency has shifted its scrutiny beyond undergraduate admissions to professional training programs that directly shape the nation's physician workforce.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that race-conscious admissions violated the Civil Rights Act at undergraduate institutions. The DOJ now applies similar legal logic to medical school admissions, arguing that considering applicants' race amounts to unlawful discrimination regardless of the institution's diversity goals.

Medical schools use race-conscious admissions to build diverse student bodies, arguing that diverse cohorts improve medical education and produce physicians better equipped to serve varied populations. Research shows physicians from underrepresented racial backgrounds treat more patients in underserved communities. Black and Hispanic Americans comprise roughly 40% of the U.S. population but account for about 10% of physicians.

The investigations place medical schools in a bind. Schools cannot legally ask about applicants' race or ethnicity under current DOJ enforcement, yet physician diversity remains linked to health equity outcomes. Some schools have begun redesigning admissions processes to emphasize socioeconomic status, first-generation college attendance, and geographic origin as proxies for diversity without explicit racial categories.

The 15 schools under investigation face potential civil rights complaints and pressure to modify admissions practices. Medical education leaders worry that race-neutral admissions will reduce the pipeline of underrepresented physicians, affecting patient care in communities that depend on culturally concordant providers.

Schools already sanctioned, like UCLA and Yale, must alter their admissions procedures and potentially