Trump's demand for colleges nationwide to fork over race data faces legal hurdle

A U.S. judge in Boston on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from ordering colleges to collect and turn over detailed data on race and student admissions, delivering a near-term reprieve to 17 Democratic attorneys general who sued to block the policy from taking force. 

U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a temporary restraining order Friday that blocked the administration from immediately ordering the detailed information from colleges and universities across the U.S.

Trump announced the new effort last August as part of a broader push from the administration to ensure universities were not using race as a factor for admissions, in accordance with a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that blocked so-called "race-conscious" admissions.

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The ruling forced many colleges to fundamentally alter their admissions process for the first time in decades. But Trump and some Republicans have criticized what they argue is a lack of compliance with the ruling, arguing that many universities have failed to adjust their admissions processes quickly or fully enough to comply. 

Trump's August memo directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to require colleges to report more data to the federal government "to provide adequate transparency into admissions."

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As part of that effort, all universities that receive federal funding were ordered to submit to the Education Department race and gender admissions data dating back years, as well as information regarding the total undergraduate applicant pool and enrollment size. 

But the Democratic attorneys general who sued to block the policy argued this week that they had not been given enough time to compile the large amount of data — roughly seven years’ worth— required by the administration.

They also argued that the effort by the Trump administration is an attempt to turn the Education Department’s primary statistical agency, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), into a "mechanism for law enforcement and the furthering of partisan policy aims."

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Judge Saylor’s temporary order effectively extends the deadline by another 12 days, through March 25, to allow the court to consider the case made by the states, and to provide for an "orderly resolution of the issues," according to the brief order.

It was not immediately clear whether the Trump administration would appeal the order. Neither the Justice Department nor the Department of Education immediately responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment.