A federal judge in Boston has halted the Trump administration’s effort to compel public universities across 17 states to provide extensive race-related admissions information, delivering a victory to state officials who challenged the data collection mandate.
U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV granted a preliminary injunction Friday following a lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys general from the affected states. The legal challenge targeted a new data reporting mandate implemented by the Department of Education through its college information-gathering survey.
The federal agency had demanded seven years worth of student admissions records broken down by race and gender to monitor whether institutions were following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that eliminated affirmative action programs in college admissions.
New York’s Attorney General Letitia James celebrated the court decision, stating that “schools should not have to scramble to produce years of sensitive information to satisfy an arbitrary and unlawful demand.”
The Department of Education has not provided any response to requests for comment regarding the ruling.
The coalition of challenging states, which includes California and Massachusetts among others, filed their lawsuit last month. They contended that the survey’s hasty rollout created conditions where universities might make unintentional mistakes that could result in federal penalties and investigations.
The data collection effort stemmed from an Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System survey established under President Donald Trump’s direction. In an August memo, the Republican president pointed to insufficient data for evaluating whether race continued to influence admissions decisions, citing what he termed widespread use of “hidden racial proxies” by colleges and universities.
While Judge Saylor acknowledged that the Education Department possessed legal authority to request such information, he criticized the “rushed and chaotic manner” of implementing the new requirements. He noted that officials failed to adequately consult with universities about anticipated implementation challenges.
The judge also pointed out that the administration’s efforts to eliminate the Education Department had worsened these issues by reducing staffing at the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees these surveys.
Following the states’ legal action, Saylor, who received his appointment from Republican President George W. Bush, issued temporary restraining orders extending the Monday deadline for affected schools to complete the survey while he reviewed the case.
Earlier this week, he issued another order providing similar deadline extensions for numerous additional public and private colleges while he evaluates whether they should also receive injunctive relief.
