One of President Trump’s second-term priorities was to put a stop to the discriminatory practice of using an applicant’s race as a consideration in college admissions. To that end, the Trump administration Justice Department (DOJ) has sought admissions records from the nation’s institutions of higher learning, to determine the extent of the issue.
On Saturday, we learned that a federal judge has blocked that data collection in 17 states, in response to a lawsuit from the Democratic attorneys general in those states.
A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s admissions data collection for public universities in 17 states, delivering a major blow to his crackdown on the use of race in college admissions.
The administration significantly expanded the scope of admissions information colleges must submit to the federal government after Trump issued an August memo directing the Education Department to do so. The move is a key part of a Trump administration effort to probe whether schools are discriminating against applicants based on race.
But a group of Democratic attorneys general from 17 states sued in early March to block the data collection.
Massachusetts District Court Judge Dennis Saylor, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in a late Friday order the survey was created in a “rushed and chaotic manner” and problems with it are being “compounded” by the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the Education Department.
The information requested included data on the race, ethnicity, sex, family income, and a few other demographic factors. The data request also sought such things as test scores and GPAs. The DOJ has maintained that the purpose of the data pull and examination are to reduce racial and ethnic discrimination in college admissions.
Three million student records are affected in this case, including those of students from Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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The ruling was a mixed one, at least in part:
But Saylor’s ruling was not a complete victory for the states, with the judge writing that the agency has the authority to collect the data it is seeking.
Saylor also said he saw no reason to restrict the department from using it to investigate potential discrimination, rejecting an argument by the states that Trump would use the data to punish colleges and could impose severe penalties such as the loss of federal funding.
Part of Judge Saylor’s ruling was also based on the “rushed and chaotic manner” in which the data request was developed, although it’s hard to see how that may be determined, much less quantified.
The data survey by the Trump administration is said to have resulted from a 2023 Supreme Court decision, Students for Fair Admission, Inc. v. Harvard, which largely eliminated the use of race in college admissions.
As of this writing, there is no indication as to whether the Trump administration will seek to appeal this ruling, but it seems likely they will. Stay tuned.
Editor’s Note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America’s kids get the education they deserve.
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