Federal judge blocks Trump admin effort to prevent race-based discrimination in college admissions

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from collecting information regarding the race of students admitted to colleges in 17 states. The ruling counters the Trump administration's effort to crack down on colleges using race in admissions after the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action is not in line with the Constitution in 2023.

The Trump administration had expanded the information colleges were required to submit to the federal government about student admissions, with a key portion of that being the race of students admitted to the school. In an August memo, Trump had directed the Department of Education to "revamp the online presentation of [the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System] such that it is easily accessible and intelligibly presented for parents and students."

The move would have allowed the Trump administration to have access to records of admissions based on race and would have also shown if certain colleges were still using race as a factor in their admissions process.

"Although the Supreme Court of the United States has definitively held that consideration of race in higher education admissions violates students’ civil rights, 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 practice. Greater transparency is essential to exposing unlawful practices and ultimately ridding society of shameful, dangerous racial hierarchies," the White House said in the memo.

However, a group of Democrat attorneys general from 17 states sued over the move, and Massachusetts District Court Judge Dennis Saylor decided in a Friday order that the move is likely under the authority of the Department of Education, but said it was done in a “rushed and chaotic manner” and that problems with data collection were being "compounded" by efforts from the Trump administration to shutter the Department of Education.

“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," Saylor wrote in the order.

According to the AP, the data was originally due on March 18 and was supposed to be disaggregated by race and sex, as well as report back as far as seven years.