A federal judge has suspended efforts by US President Donald Trump’s administration to collect data proving that higher education institutions are not considering race in admissions processes.
The injunction by Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of U.S. District Court in Boston was granted Friday in a lawsuit filed last month by a group of 17 Democratic state attorneys general. The decision will only apply to the authors of the action.
The judge stated that the federal government probably has the authority to collect the data, but that the requirement was presented to universities in a “hasty and chaotic” manner. Trump ordered the data collection in August.
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In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions, but said that colleges can still consider how race shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their application essays.
States argue that data collection risks invading student privacy and leading to unfounded investigations of colleges and universities. They also stated that universities were not given enough time to collect the data.
The Department of Education defended the initiative, arguing that taxpayers have a right to transparency about how money is spent at institutions that receive federal funding.
*Source: Associated Press.
