A federal judge on April 3 blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a requirement that colleges submit admissions data to show they are not considering race, calling the rollout “rushed and chaotic.”
In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV said the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing the process was “arbitrary and capricious” and imposed significant burdens on institutions within a short 120-day timeline.
The lawsuit was filed by 17 states after President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Aug. 7, 2025, saying the administration wanted to investigate whether colleges were using race to determine admissions in violation of the Supreme Court ruling Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. Trump’s order said that the ruling stated race-based admissions violated students’ civil rights….