Donald Trump Will Lose Harvard Student Fight, Legal Experts Say

Newsweek

23-05-2025

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Harvard is likely to succeed in its challenge of the Trump administration's decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students, legal experts told Newsweek.
Harvard sued the Trump administration on Friday, saying the government's action violates the First Amendment and will have an "immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders."
"I think Harvard will win its lawsuit, on both procedural and substantive grounds," Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired professor of immigration law at Cornell University, told Newsweek.
People walk through a gate as they exit Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachussetts, on April 15, 2025
People walk through a gate as they exit Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachussetts, on April 15, 2025
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
The Context
The Trump administration's clash with Harvard has intensified since the university openly defied demands for changes to limit activism on campus and end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. The administration has accused Harvard and other universities of allowing antisemitism to run rampant on campus amid pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year.
The administration has frozen or canceled federal grants and contracts for Harvard worth almost $3 billion in recent months, and President Donald Trump is pushing to strip the school of its tax-exempt status. The university sued to block the cuts in April.
What To Know
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has ordered that Harvard's certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program be terminated. It means Harvard will be barred from hosting international students for the upcoming 2025-26 school year.
"This means Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status," the agency said in a statement.
The statement also said Harvard leadership had created an unsafe campus environment by allowing "anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators" to harass and assault Jewish students on campus.
The action comes after Noem last month demanded that Harvard provide information on what she called the "illegal and violent" activities of the university's foreign student visa holders, warning the university would lose its ability to enroll international students if the information was not provided.
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton told Newsweek the government's action is "unlawful" and that the university is "fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably."
Harvard President Alan Garber last week said the university has made changes to combat antisemitism, but said it would "not surrender its core, legally-protected principles" over fears of retaliation by the government. He also said he was not aware of any evidence to support the administration's allegation that its international students were "more prone to disruption, violence, or other misconduct than any other students."
Several legal experts say the administration's actions violate the Constitution and would be blocked by the courts.
"Procedurally, the immigration regulations set forth specific procedures to revoke a school's approval to enroll international students," Yale-Loehr said. "The government can't just issue a press release or letter announcing the revocation."
Eric Freedman, a professor at Hofstra Law School, told Newsweek that Harvard's challenge is "very strong legally, and benefits the public."
He said: "For the government to issue press releases is easy. For the government to produce facts in court demonstrating that it has complied with law is hard. This a product feature, not a bug. It is designed to protect everyone, whoever they may be, from the passing political whims of the incumbent administration."
Norm Eisen, a lawyer and a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, saying on CNN that it "will not stand legally."
"Like every other case where Donald Trump's retaliation has been tested in court, over 150 times, courts have rejected it," he said. "The same thing will happen here. It's against the Constitution, against statutes, regulations, it's arbitrary and capricious."
Darren Hutchinson, a law professor at Emory University School of Law, predicted on social media that a court "will enjoin this stupidity and lawlessness."
What People Are Saying
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton said in a statement to Newsweek:
"The government's action is unlawful. We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably. We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission."
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Fox News, in response to a question about Harvard potentially challenging the action in the courts: "Tell them to bring it. I am on the side of America and they need to be too."
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law practice at Cornell University, told Newsweek: "Substantively, Harvard has strong grounds to claim that the administration's actions retaliate against Harvard for exercising its First Amendment rights to decide its curriculum and other issues. Harvard may also claim that the administration's demands for records on all its international students violated the students' privacy rights under federal law."
Darren Hutchinson, a law professor at Emory University School of Law, wrote on X: "The Trump administration does not respect the law whatsoever. Everything is a grudge for him. Anyone who assists is violating their oath of office. Prediction: A court will enjoin this stupidity and lawlessness."
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, an attorney, wrote on X: "Trump is hacking away at academic freedom, the hallmark of American universities. This latest assault is another illegal effort to bully those who will not bow down to his attempts at extortion. Harvard must not back down & other colleges and universities must back them up."
Lawrence Summers, a former president of Harvard who is currently a professor at the university, wrote on X: "This violates the norms of decency and fairness and will make us a poorer country and, in all likelihood, is illegal in singling out Harvard and in the sweeping character of its attack on Harvard.
"If the government has specific instances where Harvard has violated the law, let them bring it forward with due process as is the American way."
What's Next
In a letter to Harvard, Noem said the university can regain its ability to host foreign students if it produces records on foreign students within 72 hours.
Harvard is seeking a temporary restraining order to block the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out the move, which could force about 6,800 foreign students at Harvard—about a quarter of its student body—to transfer schools or leave the country.
Meanwhile, a judge in California on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending.
Are you an international student at Harvard affected by the Trump administration's move? Email [e-mail].