Federal judge halts White House effort to collect university data on applicants’ race

April 4, 2026

TL;DR

A federal judge has halted the Trump administration's efforts to collect university data on whether race is considered in admissions.
The ruling applies to public universities in states whose attorneys general filed a lawsuit.
The judge cited the "rushed and chaotic" implementation and lack of meaningful engagement with institutions as reasons for the injunction.
The Trump administration ordered the data collection citing concerns that race was being used as a factor in admissions, following the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action.
States argued the data collection risked invading student privacy and unfairly targeting universities.
The Education Department defended the demand as a matter of taxpayer transparency.
The administration had previously sued Harvard University over similar data requests.

Continue reading the original article