Judge Dismisses the Trump Administration's Harvard Admissions-Probe Lawsuit, Reuters Reports

A federal judge dismissed on Monday a lawsuit by President Donald Trump's administration seeking to force Harvard University to turn over records for an investigation into whether it continues to consider race in its student admissions process, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston rejected the Justice Department's lawsuit, which Harvard contends was filed as part of a broader campaign by the administration against the Ivy League school.

The Justice Department filed the case in February, arguing that Harvard was not complying with investigations into whether it is following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling rejecting race-conscious admissions programs, Reuters reported. The administration contends the Justice Department and the Department of Education need years of applicant-level admissions data to determine whether race remains a factor in Harvard's decisions; the records were sought as part of an investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Harvard's lawyers countered that the case was filed to retaliate against the university for refusing demands that it overhaul its governance, hiring and academic programs, and said the lawsuit was filed after Trump announced in early February that he was ending settlement talks and wanted $1 billion in damages from Harvard, according to Reuters. The university also said the Justice Department sued without first taking legally required steps to secure voluntary compliance, and that the demand covered sensitive data on thousands of high school students who sought admission.

Harvard has been a top target of the administration's effort to leverage federal funding and government power to force changes at universities, Reuters reported, and has already secured rulings from other judges rejecting administration efforts to terminate more than $2 billion in grants and to block the school from hosting international students.