Judge Halts Trump Administration's Race Data Collection

A federal judge, F. Dennis Saylor IV, in Boston granted a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's efforts to collect data from higher education institutions regarding race in admissions. The ruling, which applies to public universities in 17 states, follows a lawsuit filed by a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general. While the judge acknowledged the federal government's likely authority to collect such data, he criticized the 'rushed and chaotic' manner of its rollout, specifically citing a 120-day deadline that prevented meaningful engagement with institutions. President Donald Trump ordered the data collection in August 2025, driven by concerns that colleges were using proxies to consider race, which he views as illegal discrimination, following the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling against affirmative action. The United States===United States Department of Education defended the effort, citing taxpayer transparency, and had previously negotiated similar data agreements with Brown University and Columbia University. Education Secretary Linda McMahon had set a March 18 deadline for the data, threatening action under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 for non-compliance. Separately, the Trump administration has sued Harvard University over similar data requests.