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Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Admin's Harvard Admissions Lawsuit

Updated 11:22 AM ET · 9:45 AM ETConfirmedShare via:      

Politics Desk

In Short: A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit seeking Harvard University's admissions records, citing procedural deficiencies.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit against Harvard University, ruling that the government had not taken all legally required steps to secure the university's voluntary compliance with its demands for admissions data.

In a 10-page ruling, Judge Joun found that the government was too quick to sue, noting that a deadline and a threat to sue do not necessarily demonstrate compliance with the Justice Department's process for working with schools over information demands.

The lawsuit, filed in February, sought years of applicant-level admissions data to determine whether race remains a factor in Harvard's admissions decisions and if the university is complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination in education programs.

Harvard argued it had provided over 2,000 pages of documents to the government without divulging individualized records, which it says are privileged.

The judge dismissed the complaint without prejudice, leaving the door open for the government to sue again if it can prove Harvard will not comply voluntarily with its demands.

DOE spokesperson Ellen Keast said in a statement to Courthouse News that Harvard has a “well-documented” history of discrimination, citing a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that gutted affirmative action.

Harvard and the Justice Department did not immediately comment, but the Education Department said students should be evaluated on “merit and accomplishments, not the color of their skin.”

The ruling does not determine whether Harvard has discriminated or whether the agencies may lawfully seek appropriately defined applicant-level data.

Harvard has secured rulings from other judges rejecting the administration's efforts to terminate over $2 billion in grants, block the school from hosting international students, and sue it for allegedly failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment.

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• He dismissed the complaint without prejudice, opening the door for the government to sue again if it can truly prove Harvard will not comply voluntarily with its demands.
• “The government … has not supplied a sufficient basis for the judicial relief currently sought,” the judge ruled.
• “Harvard has failed to disclose the data we need to ensure that its admissions are free of discrimination — we will continue fighting to put merit over DEI across America,” then-Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a February statement announcing the suit.
• "Nothing in this decision converts the Government's request for information into an accusation of present discrimination or resolves Harvard's underlying Title VI compliance," the judge wrote.
• A federal judge on Monday dismissed 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.
• The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university has already secured rulings from other judges rejecting the administration's efforts to terminate over $2 billion in grants, block the school from hosting international students and sue it for allegedly failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment.
• Harvard and the Justice Department didn't immediately comment; the Education Department said students should be evaluated on "merit and accomplishments, not the color of their skin." The AP notes this is just the "latest setback" for the Trump administration in its battle with the Ivy League school, after losing in federal court on everything from funding cuts to an antisemitism lawsuit.
• November 2, 2026 · 4:30 pm ET · Leave a Comment “A federal judge on Monday dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit seeking Harvard University’s admissions records, the latest win for the Ivy League school in its battle with the White House,” Politico reports.
• The dismissal marks a win for Harvard in a prolonged dispute over whether the University must hand over applicant-level admissions data to prove it is complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision barring race-conscious admissions.
• At a September oral argument, Joun expressed skepticism about the government’s efforts to negotiate with Harvard before suing, describing its stance at one point as an “ultimatum.” Harvard, for its part, has maintained that it provided the government with as much information as possible — more than 2,000 pages of documents — without divulging individualized records, which it says are privileged.
• The Justice Department filed the case before Joun in February, arguing that Harvard was not complying with investigations into whether it is following the US Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling rejecting race-conscious admissions programs used to boost enrollment of minority students.

What's still developing

• In September 2025, a federal judge found the administration’s $2.6 billion cuts to Harvard’s research funding unlawfully retaliatory.
• U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, a Barack Obama appointee in Massachusetts, called the funding freeze an “ideologically motivated assault” on one of the nation’s top colleges and concluded the administration was doing the same to other prestigious institutions around the country.
• Harvard argued it was responsive to the DOJ’s demands but was sued nonetheless because of its refusal to cede to the administration on issues like antisemitism.
• The Department of Justice filed the suit in February after it claimed Harvard failed to cooperate with a probe into whether it considers race in its student admissions process — running afoul of the administration’s stance on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
• “President Trump has publicly expressed his beliefs that ‘Harvard has lost its way,’ that it ‘has been hiring almost all woke, radical left, idiots and birdbrains’ and that ‘Harvard is a JOKE.’ The rest of the executive branch has followed the president’s lead,” Harvard claims in the filing.
• They 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, which he said had "been, for a long time, behaving very badly."
• Both departments have started numerous investigations into whether colleges continue to consider race in admissions.
• “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a majority of the Supreme Court in last summer’s Students for Fair Admissions opinions, which held that affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated the Constitution.
• Three years ago, the court ruled that Harvard and other universities may not discriminate on whom they admit based on the race of their applicants.

Sources

• Reuterslink
• Courthouse Newslink
• Fox Newslink
• Law360link
• NewsCordlink
• Newserlink
• Politicalwirelink
• Thecrimsonlink
• Unionleaderlink
• upilink
• Pacificlegallink
• Los Angeles Timeslink
• WarpBeat — background on Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Admin's Harvard Admissions Lawsuit link
• WarpBeat — background on Federal Judge Halts Trump DOJ Threats to Election Workers link
• KTVN 2 News Nevada — video link