A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Harvard University concerning its alleged refusal to provide admissions records demanded by the Justice Department. The department sought the data to investigate whether the university was still considering race in its admissions processes, a practice barred by the Supreme Court in 2023.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun ruled that the Justice Department did not adhere to necessary procedural steps before filing the lawsuit. According to the judge, the agency must first inform the recipient of noncompliance and ensure that voluntary compliance cannot be achieved. The ruling, however, does not resolve the underlying dispute over the data itself, leaving open the possibility for future action.
The Justice Department initiated a compliance review in 2025, requesting five years of admissions data for undergraduate, medical, and law school applicants. This included grades, test scores, essays, extracurricular activities, admissions outcomes, and information on race and ethnicity, to determine if Harvard continued to factor race into admissions decisions.
This legal action against Harvard is part of a broader initiative by the Trump administration targeting colleges accused of using race in admissions. Similar findings of illegal race considerations in admissions have been made against the law and medical schools at UCLA, as well as UC Berkeley Law School and the medical school at UC San Diego, which were accused of discriminating against white and Asian applicants.