Solid Red State Accuses Trump Admin of Discrimination in New Lawsuit

Newsweek

20 hours ago

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Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday arguing that the U.S. Department of Education's Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program, overseen by Secretary Linda McMahon, constitutes racial discrimination.
The move marks a notable challenge from a Republican-led state against the Trump administration's education policy.
Newsweek has reached out to the Department of Education and legal representatives of SFFA via email on Thursday.
Why It Matters
The HSI program provides federal funding to colleges and universities where at least one-quarter of the undergraduate student body is Hispanic. It was created over three decades ago as part of the Titles III and V of the Higher Education Act. There are around 600 HISs in the U.S. and according to Ed Excelencia, they enroll 63 percent of all Latino undergraduates.
No higher education institutions in Tennessee meet the program's threshold and therefore do not receive HSI funding.
Tennessee has voted reliably Republican in presidential elections for more than two decades, supporting all three of Donald Trump's campaigns with more than 60 percent of the vote. The state last backed a Democrat in 1996, when President Bill Clinton carried it. Outside of Nashville and Memphis, much of Tennessee remains solidly Republican.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked higher education institutions and threatened loss of federal funding if his demands aren't met. He has pushed to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI) and called on universities to curb campus protests, particularly those related to Israel's war in Gaza, which many legal scholars and activists have argued infringe on First Amendment rights. His administration has been most recently embroiled in legal challenges against Harvard University.
What To Know
The complaint, which was filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, claims that the program's "arbitrary ethnic threshold," unfairly excludes Tennessee institutions from accessing millions in federal grants.
According to the filing, Tennessee operates multiple colleges and universities, and "every one of them serves Hispanic students. Every one of them serves low-income students," but they are barred from receiving HIS grants due to not having the "right mix of ethnicities on campus."
The lawsuit argues that the University of Memphis, where 47 percent of students are low-income Pell Grant recipients and 62 percent are racial or ethnic minorities, is denied HSI funding because it lacks the "right" ethnic makeup.
The HSI funding that certain schools obtain allows them to spend on programs "ranging from new lab equipment to STEM tutoring for low-income students," the complaint states.
The plaintiffs argue that there is "no valid reason to make federal funds turn on race or ethnicity," and therefore are seeking a declaratory judgment that the ethnicity-based requirements are unconstitutional and should be barred.
The plaintiffs wrote they are seeking "A permanent injunction prohibiting the Secretary from enforcing or applying the HSI program's ethnicity-based requirements when making decisions whether to award or maintain grants to Tennessee's institutions of higher education," along with relief of attorneys' fees and costs.
(L): Students for Fair Admissions founder Edward Blum. (M): Education Secretary Linda McMahon speaks during a Senate Appropriations hearing, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (R): Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.
(L): Students for Fair Admissions founder Edward Blum. (M): Education Secretary Linda McMahon speaks during a Senate Appropriations hearing, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (R): Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO/George Walker IV
The lawsuit comes after the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, ruled that race-based admissions violated the equal protection clause, essentially striking down affirmative action.
What People Are Saying
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement: "A federal grant system that openly discriminates against students based on ethnicity isn't just wrong and un-American—it's unconstitutional. In SFFA v. Harvard, the Supreme Court ruled that racially discriminatory admissions standards violate the law, and the HSI program's discriminatory grant standards are just as illegal. Treating people differently because of their skin color and ancestry drags our country backward. The HSI program perversely deprives even needy Hispanic students of the benefits of this funding if they attend institutions that don't meet the government's arbitrary quota."
Edward Blum, president of SFFA, said in a statement: "This lawsuit is not about denying opportunity to any racial or ethnic group. It is about ensuring that opportunity is extended to everyone on an equal basis. This lawsuit challenges a federal policy that conditions the receipt of taxpayer-funded grants on the racial composition of a student body. Discriminating against colleges, universities, faculty, and students based on race violates the fundamental principle of equal protection under the law. No student or institution should be denied opportunity because they fall on the wrong side of an ethnic quota."
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her dissent to the 2023 Supreme Court case: "The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society...At its core, today's decision exacerbates segregation and diminishes the inclusivity of our Nation's institutions in service of superficial neutrality that promotes indifference to inequality and ignores the reality of race. "
What Happens Next
The case was filed on Wednesday, with summons sent to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.