A federal judge recently blocked the Trump administration from requiring colleges to provide evidence that they do not consider race in admissions.
In August 2025, President Donald Trump directed universities to provide data amid concerns that personal statements and other indirect methods were being used to consider race in admissions.
”The persistent lack of available data — paired with the rampant use of ‘diversity statements’ and other overt and hidden racial proxies — continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice,” said the memorandum signed by Trump, according to the Associated Press.
Trump orders colleges to report race data https://t.co/9YI0pHk7b9
— Axios (@axios) August 7, 2025
US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV issued a preliminary injunction in Boston on Friday blocking the Trump administration’s aforementioned efforts, according to multiple news outlets.
The federal judge acknowledged that the government probably has the legal right to collect the data from colleges, but criticised how the request was implemented, calling it “rushed and chaotic.”
“The 120-day deadline imposed by the President led directly to the failure of NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) to engage meaningfully with the institutions during the notice-and-comment process to address the multitude of problems presented by the new requirements,” the judge wrote.
JA federal judge on Friday halted efforts by the Trump administration to collect data that proves higher education institutions aren’t considering race in admissions. https://t.co/6YoYQKBozr
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 4, 2026
The order comes after a lawsuit was filed by 17 Democratic state attorneys general in federal court in Boston, challenging the Trump administration’s efforts. The order applies only to public universities in the states represented by the plaintiffs.
“This Administration’s unlawful and haphazard actions are threatening the well-being of Massachusetts students and the prosperity of our colleges and universities. There is no way for institutions to reasonably deliver accurate data in the federal government’s rushed and arbitrary time frame, and it is unfair for schools to be threatened with fines, potential losses of funding, and baseless investigations should they not fulfill the Administration’s request,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said.
According to The Guardian, states argue that collecting this admissions data could violate student privacy and could lead to unjustified investigations of colleges and universities. Additionally, they said that institutions have not been given enough time to gather the requested data.
“The data has been sought in such a hasty and irresponsible way that it will create problems for universities,” said Michelle Pascucci, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Defending the order, Ellen Keast, an Education Department spokesperson, said:
“American taxpayers invest over $100 billion into higher education each year and deserve transparency on how their dollars are being spent. The Department’s efforts will expand an existing transparency tool to show how universities are taking race into consideration in admissions. What exactly are State AGs trying to shield universities from?”
In 2023, the Supreme Court barred the use of affirmative action in college admissions; however, it noted that colleges could still take into account how a student’s race has influenced their experiences, provided the student voluntarily mentions it in their application essays.
