Judge Tosses Trump Administration’s Admissions Records Lawsuit Against Harvard

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.

The Justice Department sued Harvard in February for allegedly failing to comply with its investigation into the school’s admissions decisions. The agency later added a similar probe from the Education Department to its case.

But Massachusetts District Court Judge Myong J. Joun, a President Joe Biden appointee, said the Justice and Education departments could not prove they followed the required procedural steps before suing Harvard over its admissions data.

"A deadline and a threat to sue, standing alone, do not necessarily demonstrate compliance" with the Justice Department's processes for working with schools to voluntarily resolve disputes over information demands, Joun wrote.

Joun said that the Education Department also had procedural issues in its efforts to obtain records from Harvard and that the agency’s procedure must be evaluated independently.

Trump administration officials argued in the lawsuit that the school was withholding information in the federal investigations over whether it racially discriminates against applicants. Harvard was at the center of the landmark 2023 Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that gutted the consideration of race in college admissions.

But Harvard argued the government’s information requests were overly broad and would reveal identifiable and sensitive information about hundreds of thousands of applicants, including personal essays.

The school also said it had already turned over “thousands of pages of documents” about admissions procedures that demonstrate the school is complying with the law and the Supreme Court decision.

Joun did not rule on whether Harvard discriminated in admissions or whether the government can legally compel the university to hand over these records. A similar lawsuit could be filed again by the government.

“Harvard's rampant discrimination against teenage applicants was well-documented in a landmark Supreme Court case that will forever attach Harvard’s name to the illegal use of race preferences," Education Department spokesperson Ellen Keast said in a statement. "When the government asked for admissions data to determine whether Harvard has changed its ways, the school refused and a Democrat-appointed judge is now shielding Harvard from accountability."

Kiersten Pels, a Justice Department spokesperson, said in a statement that the court dismissed the case on "a narrow pleading question and invited the United States to amend."

"We will do exactly that," she said. "Nothing in the ruling changes the core problem: Harvard continues to refuse to provide the admissions information it is required to produce as a recipient of federal funds under Title VI. The United States will file an amended complaint and continue to hold Harvard to its obligations."

The Trump administration’s escalating fight with the university began in April 2025, when Harvard refused to comply with White House demands to overhaul its admissions and disciplinary policies, alleging that they infringed on free speech rights.

The White House responded by blocking more than $2 billion in federal grants. It also reviewed but didn't withdraw roughly $9 billion in grants and contracts with the university over the treatment of Jewish students that it says violated Title VI, the federal law that bars discrimination on race, shared ancestry and national origin, including during protests of the Israel-Hamas war that roiled campuses across the country last year.

President Donald Trump has also tried to cancel Harvard’s tax-exempt status and floated redistributing $3 billion in university grants to trade schools. The administration sought to restrict the university’s ability to enroll foreign students.

A Harvard spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.