A new lawsuit has been filed against the University of California alleging that the institution is engaging in illegal race-based discrimination during its undergraduate admissions process. According to KTLA, the suit was submitted on Monday by Students Against Racial Discrimination, a collective initiated by UCLA's Richard Sander and Tim Groseclose from George Mason University.

The lawsuit purports that there is racial discrimination within UC's system, accusing it of giving preference to "non-Asian racial minorities," such as Black and Latino students, at the expense of Asian American and white applicants. A representative for UC, Stett Holbrook, stated that the university complies with the laws. Holbrook said, "UC undergraduate admissions applications collect students' race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only and they are not used for admission," as cited by EdSource.

The legal action comes in the wake of Proposition 209—a measure from 1996 that banned California public colleges from considering race in admissions—and the 2023 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that put an end to affirmative action nationwide. The plaintiffs are seeking the appointment of an independent monitor to review UC admissions indefinitely. They have presented the claim that UC's admissions practices not only violate the state law but also implicate the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, along with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as stated by ABC7.