MA Court enjoins ban on Harvard foreign admissions

The federal District Court in MA (Allison D. Burroughs) has granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Trump Administration’s Proclamation purporting to suspend Harvard University’s right to admit and educate foreign students.

The Court found:

• the University was likely to succeed on merits of its claim that Proclamation was in retaliation for exercise of its First Amendment rights;
• the University was likely to succeed on merits of its claim that Proclamation violated First Amendment Petition Clause;
• the University was likely to succeed on merits of its claim that Proclamation was motivated by President’s opposition to its perceived left-leaning orientation;
• the University faced irreparable harm in absence of preliminary injunction; and
• the balance of equities and public interest favored issuance of preliminary injunction.

The first several pages of the opinion recite at length the numerous steps and public statements the Administration utilized in attempting to take control over various functions at the University, suspending billions of dollars in grants in several separate steps, threatening the University’s tax exempt status, and convening a White House meeting of “nearly a dozen agencies” to brainstorm additional actions to take against the University.  (President and Fellows of Harvard College v. United States Department of Homeland Security, D. MA, No. 25-cv-11472, 6/23/25.)