Federal judge dismisses Trump admin’s lawsuit alleging Harvard violated Jewish, Israeli students' rights

A federal judge dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Harvard University on Thursday, ruling that the government had not shown an ongoing violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act involving Jewish and Israeli students.Richard Stearns, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, said the lawsuit, filed in March, relied primarily on incidents from the 2023-24 academic year. Only three of the incidents cited occurred afterwards, in March 2025, he wrote.“Without diminishing any concern arising from these occurrences, the court finds them, singly and collectively, to be too isolated and episodic to support a plausible inference that any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day,” he wrote.Stearns also said federal law requires the government to first notify an institution of its failure to comply with Title VI and determine that voluntary compliance cannot be obtained before taking…
A federal judge dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against Harvard University, which alleged the institution violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act regarding Jewish and Israeli students. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns ruled that the incidents cited were "too isolated and episodic" to demonstrate ongoing institutional noncompliance. The lawsuit primarily relied on incidents from the 2023-24 academic year, with only three occurring after the government's required notice to Harvard on June 30, 2025. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center, stated that the ruling "would make it significantly more challenging for the Justice Department to win future civil rights cases."
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