US Judge Throws Out Trump Suit Accusing Harvard of Antisemitism

A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that accused Harvard University of ignoring harassment of Jewish students on its campus. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled on Thursday that the government failed to demonstrate an ongoing violation of federal civil rights law.

The judge noted that the lawsuit, filed in March, centered on incidents from the 2023-24 academic year, with only a few from March 2025. He described the cases as "too isolated and episodic" to establish a persistent civil rights breach at the Ivy League institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The administration had argued that Harvard did not protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations that followed the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel. The lawsuit alleged that Jewish students were "harassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon" without intervention from university officials.

Harvard responded to the initial filing by stating its commitment to the Jewish and Israeli community and highlighted its efforts to enforce anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies.

The government sought to recover billions of dollars in federal research grants awarded to Harvard since October 2023, citing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race or national origin. The lawsuit was part of a broader series of actions taken by the administration against Harvard after the university declined to comply with White House demands. These actions included attempts to cut research funding and restrict foreign student enrollment.

In a separate case last year, a federal judge ordered the administration to restore over $2.6 billion in funding cuts to Harvard, ruling that the White House had imposed unconstitutional conditions on federal money and used antisemitism as a pretext for an ideologically motivated attack on universities.