A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against Harvard University, ruling that the Justice Department had not followed required procedures before seeking admissions records from the Ivy League institution. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun issued the dismissal without prejudice, meaning the administration may refile if it addresses the identified procedural deficiencies.
The lawsuit, filed in February, sought to compel Harvard to produce applicant-level admissions data as part of an investigation into whether the university continued to consider race in its admissions process following the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling limiting affirmative action. The Justice Department alleged that Harvard had repeatedly delayed producing requested documents and failed to provide individualized records despite multiple requests and extended deadlines.
Judge cites procedural gaps in Justice Department’s enforcement action
Joun’s 10-page decision stated that federal officials had not adequately established that they followed required steps before pursuing legal action. “The Government may be able to identify a qualifying determination or cure the procedural deficiency, but it has not supplied a sufficient basis for the judicial relief currently sought,” the judge wrote. The ruling does not resolve the underlying dispute over Harvard’s admissions practices but narrows the immediate legal path for the government’s investigation.
Harvard’s compliance and the federal review
The Justice Department had accused Harvard of withholding information necessary for its civil rights review, asserting that the university thwarted efforts to investigate potential discrimination. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi stated in February that Harvard had failed to disclose the data needed to ensure admissions were free of discrimination. Harvard has not publicly commented on the ruling beyond the court documents.
The dispute centers on a federal review launched to assess whether Harvard’s admissions policies comply with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which barred the use of race as a factor in college admissions. The Justice Department’s lawsuit argued that Harvard’s alleged noncompliance with document requests warranted judicial intervention to obtain the records. The judge, however, found that the agency had not met the prerequisites for such enforcement under the applicable statutory framework.
Next steps and potential refiling
While the dismissal leaves the door open for the Justice Department to pursue the matter further, it must first address the procedural issues identified by the court. Joun’s decision does not preclude future legal action if the government can demonstrate compliance with the required steps. The ruling also does not address the merits of the underlying investigation into Harvard’s admissions policies, which remains unresolved.