A federal judge has thrown out the Justice Department’s case accusing Harvard University of withholding admissions data from government investigators probing whether the school was complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on affirmative action.
Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun dismissed the case but left open an avenue for the government to reopen its complaint against the storied educational institution once it addresses certain procedural issues.
“For these reasons, Harvard’s motion to dismiss is granted without prejudice,” Joun wrote.
Joun said that he did not make a determination on the case’s merits on admission information.
Trending
The lawsuit, filed in February, sought data from hundreds of thousands of college applications — including students’ personal essays — to investigate Harvard’s compliance with new rules rejecting race-conscious admissions. In 2023, the Supreme Court found that affirmative action violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs that rely on federal money.
The Justice Department had argued it gave Harvard repeated opportunities to turn over the records.
“Harvard has failed to disclose the data we need to ensure that its admissions are free of discrimination,” then-Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in February. “We will continue fighting to put merit over DEI across America.”
Harvard said that it had provided substantial records for government investigators but objected to the probe’s scope and relevance.
Joun found that the government failed to prove it had tried to settle the issue with the school before taking 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,” Joun wrote.
The ruling still doesn’t answer questions about whether Harvard’s admissions process can be considered discriminatory, or whether the government’s investigation was politically retaliatory.
Author
