By Nate Raymond
BOSTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – 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.
US District Judge Myong Joun in Boston rejected the US Department of Justice’s lawsuit, which Harvard contends was filed as part of a broader campaign by the Republican president’s administration against the Ivy League school.
The judge stressed that his decision rested on narrow, procedural grounds and did not resolve whether the Justice Department and US Department of Education could ultimately seek data on thousands of high school students who sought admission at Harvard.
But Joun, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, agreed with Harvard that the Justice Department sued without taking all legally required steps aimed at securing the university’s voluntary compliance with its demands for applicant-level data.
“For example, the complaint does not allege that DOJ informed Harvard of the action it would take — namely, litigation — should Harvard fail to comply, nor does the complaint allege the specific failure identified,” Joun wrote.
The Justice Department and Harvard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Harvard has been a top target of the administration’s effort to leverage federal funding and government power to force changes at universities that Trump says are dominated by “radical left” ideologies.
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.
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.
The administration said it needed 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.
The university’s lawyers countered that the case was filed to retaliate against Harvard for refusing demands that it overhaul its governance, hiring and academic programs to align with the administration’s agenda.
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.”
Joun, in dismissing the case on Monday, stressed that he was not resolving whether Harvard has discriminated or if it may ultimately be required to provide data to the agencies. The Justice Department could try to pursue a similar case again if it takes additional administrative steps, he said.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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