A federal judge on Monday dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit against Harvard University over its admissions records, ruling that the Justice Department failed to follow required procedural steps before taking the Ivy League school to court.
Judge Myoung J. Joun of the U.S. District Court did not rule on the merits of the case — whether Harvard continues to consider race in admissions — but instead granted Harvard's request to dismiss on procedural grounds, according to The Guardian. The judge found that the Justice Department failed to demonstrate it took the necessary steps to seek voluntary compliance before moving for judicial enforcement.
"A deadline and a threat to sue, standing alone, do not necessarily demonstrate compliance with the regulatory voluntary-compliance process where the agency seeks to enforce disputed demands for extensive information," Joun wrote in his opinion.
The Justice Department filed the lawsuit in February 2026, seeking records and claiming Harvard had "thwarted" and "slow-walked" a federal civil rights review through delays and failure to meet deadlines for record requests, according to The Guardian. The administration was investigating whether the university continues to consider race in its admissions process.
Harvard has maintained it provided more than 2,000 pages of documents without divulging personal individual records, which it states are privileged information. Lawyers for the university have argued the Trump administration prematurely abandoned negotiations in favor of what they characterized as a retaliatory campaign against Harvard, The Guardian reported.
The dismissal comes just days after Harvard released admissions data showing the enrollment of Black students fell for a third straight year, to 9.3% for the class of 2030 — down from 18% in the class of 2027, according to The Guardian.
This is not the first legal setback for the administration in its efforts targeting Harvard. In August 2026, the same federal judge dismissed the Trump administration's antisemitism lawsuit against the university, per The Guardian. The administration's broader campaign against Harvard has included freezing federal funds and attempting to revoke the school's ability to accept international students.
POLITICO noted that the Justice Department sued the school in February for allegedly failing to comply with its investigation into Harvard's admissions decisions.
CNN reported that the judge dismissed the lawsuit seeking to force Harvard to turn over records for an investigation into whether it continues to consider race in its student admissions process.
It is not yet known whether the Justice Department will refile the case after correcting the procedural deficiencies identified by the court. The judge's ruling explicitly leaves that door open.
Our Take
Here's what patriots need to understand: this ruling is a procedural speed bump, not a vindication of Harvard's opaque admissions practices. Judge Joun didn't say Harvard did nothing wrong — he said the Justice Department didn't dot the i's and cross the t's before hauling the university into court. That's a fixable problem, and the administration should fix it and refile immediately.
The American people deserve to know whether our nation's most prestigious universities are still gaming the system with race-based admissions in defiance of the Supreme Court. Harvard has fought tooth and nail to keep its individual applicant records hidden, releasing selective aggregate data while claiming privilege over the details that would actually show what's happening in the admissions office.
Meanwhile, the numbers tell their own story: Black enrollment at Harvard has now dropped for three consecutive years. If the university is complying with the law, why the stonewalling? Why the refusal to hand over records that would prove it?
The Trump administration was right to investigate. The Justice Department was right to sue. Now it needs to cross the procedural t's, refile, and finish the job. Harvard doesn't get to hide behind paperwork while the American people wait for answers.
