Trump administration can't make colleges provide race-related data, judge rules
Source: Reuters
April 3, 2026 11:16 PM EDT Updated 9 hours ago
BOSTON, April 3 (Reuters) - The Trump administration cannot force public universities in 17 U.S. states to turn over sweeping amounts of data so it can examine whether they have ceased considering race as an admissions factor, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in Boston issued a preliminary injunction at the request of those states' Democratic attorneys general, who are suing over a new data reporting requirement the Department of Education adopted in a survey used to gather information from colleges.
The department sought seven years of admissions data on the race and sex of students to track compliance with the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling ending affirmative action in higher education. New York Attorney General Letitia James hailed the ruling, saying in a statement that "schools should not have to scramble to produce years of sensitive information to satisfy an arbitrary and unlawful demand."
The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment. The states, which also include California and Massachusetts, sued last month, arguing the survey's rushed implementation left universities vulnerable to inadvertent errors that could lead them to face penalties and investigations into their practices.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-cant-make-colleges-provide-race-related-data-judge-rules-2026-04-04/
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/lgpdgjbyrvo/04032026education.pdf
REFERENCES
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