Harvard Wins in Court and, Surprisingly, Trump Says Nice Things About the University

The Trump Administration lost in court today. A judge blocked their efforts to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students.

U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued the preliminary injunction after having granted a temporary restraining order against the federal government this month.

The injunction holds that the administration is blocked from yanking Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which was based on a May 22 revocation notice the Department of Homeland Security sent to Harvard administrators.

In her decision, Burroughs directed the government to “immediately” prepare guidance to alert Trump administration officials to disregard that notice and to restore “every visa holder and applicant to the position that individual would have been absent such Revocation Notice.”…

Preliminary injunctions can be appealed, which the Justice Department is likely to do.

Frequently when a court thwarts his efforts, President Trump is prone to lashing out and saying some not very complimentary things about the judge. But that’s not what happened today. On the contrary, he posted a message on Truth Social a short time ago praising Harvard.

If a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be “mindbogglingly” HISTORIC, and very good for our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

The Harvard Crimson has a good report on this which suggests the mindboggling settlement Trump is discussing may not be a legal settlement in either of the two cases Harvard has filed against the administration.

Tensions escalated in early April when the White House delivered a list of extensive demands to Harvard. When Harvard refused to comply, the administration froze more than $2.2 billion in federal research funding.

In May, the Trump administration tried to strip Harvard of its SEVP status, threatening the more than 7,000 international students who currently study on its campus.

Harvard responded by filing two federal lawsuits. The first, in April, challenges the research funding freeze as unconstitutional retaliation. The second, filed in May, argues that the administration’s attacks on international students were politically motivated and violated both immigration law and Harvard’s First Amendment rights.

Now, Trump’s comments suggest that settlement negotiations are taking place outside the courtroom. He made no reference to the lawsuits in his post. It remains unclear whether any deal would impact the legal challenges — or who, exactly, is a party to the talks.

This isn’t the first time there have been signs things might be working out behind the scenes.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said last week that the administration believes Harvard has taken steps to combat antisemitism on campus and that some progress has been made.

“We are, I think, making progress in some of the discussion, where even though they have taken a hard line, they have, for instance, replaced their head of Middle East Studies,” McMahon said during a moderated conversation with Bloomberg in Washington, DC.

Asked whether Harvard should expect additional actions from the administration, she said, “At this particular time, we’re continuing with the things we’ve already talked about.”

I honestly have no idea what the historic settlement could be that would please the administration this much. Will Havard agree to expel a bunch of students who broke the rules over the past year? Will it put an end to DEI on campus? Clearly they’ve offered something that Trump liked. I’m sort of eager to find out what it is.

I’m also curious how furious the backlash will be if an agreement is reached. Harvard has been praised by progressives across the country as the university (unlike Columbia) which has led the fight against Trump. So making a deal that Trump approves seems like a recipe for a lot of bitter recriminations from the left. Harvard must be aware that’s a risk, but at this point the loss of funding is probably the bigger concern.