Judge Myoung J Joun ruled on 2 November 2026, that the Justice Department had not shown it took the required steps to seek Harvard’s voluntary compliance; he did not decide the merits.
A US federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking individual applicant records from Harvard University. The ruling prevents the government from obtaining the records through that enforcement action without deciding whether its underlying demands were valid.
The administration sought the records to check whether Harvard had stopped using affirmative action in admissions. Judge Myoung J Joun had separately dismissed the administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard in August 2026.
Joun found that the Justice Department had not demonstrated that it took the necessary steps to seek voluntary compliance before asking a court to enforce its demands, The Guardian said. He also found that the Education Department had not followed proper procedures before incorporating its admissions investigation into the lawsuit.
In his opinion, Joun said that a deadline and a threat to sue alone do not necessarily satisfy the voluntary-compliance process when an agency seeks extensive, disputed information.
The Justice Department filed the case in February 2026, alleging that Harvard had delayed a federal civil rights review and missed deadlines for records requests. Harvard said it had supplied more than 2,000 pages of documents but withheld individual personal records, which it said were privileged.
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