DOJ sues Harvard over access to race-based admissions documents
The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Harvard University in federal court in Boston, accusing Harvard of unlawfully withholding documents about race-based admissions during a civil-rights compliance review under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The DOJ says the records—including individualized applicant data and internal communications related to race, diversity, equity, and inclusion—are necessary to determine whether Harvard’s admissions practices continue to discriminate on the basis of race, even after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling on race-conscious admissions. The lawsuit seeks a court order forcing Harvard to disclose the requested documents; it does not allege current discrimination or seek monetary damages.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon criticized Harvard’s noncompliance, arguing that providing the data is a basic expectation of a credible compliance process and that failing to cooperate raises red flags. The DOJ notes that it began the compliance review in April 2025 and needed applicant-level data such as GPAs, test scores, and demographic information to assess Title VI compliance. The case sits against the backdrop of the Supreme Court decision limiting race-conscious admissions’ use under the Fourteenth amendment’s equal protection clause.
DOJ sues Harvard over access to race-based admissions documents
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Friday against Harvard University, accusing the Ivy League school of unlawfully withholding documents about race-based admissions.
The DOJ said in a news release that the information is necessary to determine whether Harvard continues to discriminate based on race in its admissions process, even after the Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the university did so.
“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, this Department of Justice is demanding better from our nation’s educational institutions,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “Harvard has failed to disclose the data we need to ensure that its admissions are free of discrimination — we will continue fighting to put merit over DEI across America.”
The complaint, filed in federal court in Boston, alleges Harvard has failed for more than 10 months to provide individualized applicant data and other records requested by the DOJ as part of a compliance review under federal civil rights law.
The Justice Department said the documents are needed to assess whether Harvard’s admissions practices violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination by establishments that receive federal funding.
The lawsuit does not, in itself, allege that Harvard’s current admissions policies are discriminatory or seek monetary damages, according to the complaint.
Instead, it seeks a court order compelling the university to hand over documents the department has requested several times, including admissions policies and correspondence related to race, ethnicity, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release that Harvard’s noncompliance raises red flags over its practices.
“Providing requested data is a basic expectation of any credible compliance process, and refusal to cooperate creates concerns about university practices,” Dhillon said. “If Harvard has stopped discriminating, it should happily share the data necessary to prove it.”
The case traces back to April 2025, when the Justice Department initiated compliance reviews of Harvard’s undergraduate, law, and medical school admissions programs.
Federal officials said at the time they needed applicant-level data, such as grade point averages, test scores, and demographic information, to determine whether Harvard was unlawfully continuing to discriminate based on race.
The complaint argues that Harvard’s failure to provide records violates a material term of its federal financial assistance and hampers the government’s ability to complete its review.
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The lawsuit also notes the backdrop of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.
In June 2023, the court held that race-conscious admissions programs violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, effectively curtailing the consideration of race in colleges nationwide.
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