Trump administration targets Harvard Law Review for alleged race-based discrimination

The Trump administration announced Monday that it has launched investigations into Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review over allegedly factoring race into editorial decisions at the legal publication.

The civil rights offices of both the US Department of Education and the US Department of Health and Human Services said they launched investigations "based on reports of race-based discrimination permeating the operations of the journal."

The offices said the investigations are in response to information received about policies and practices for journal membership and article selection that they say may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"Harvard Law Review's article selection process appears to pick winners and losers on the basis of race, employing a spoils system in which the race of the legal scholar is as, if not more, important than the merit of the submission," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.

"Title VI's demands are clear: recipients of federal financial assistance may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. No institution—no matter its pedigree, prestige, or wealth—is above the law. The Trump administration will not allow Harvard, or any other recipients of federal funds, to trample on anyone's civil rights," Trainor added.

Last week, Harvard University sued the Trump administration after the federal government canceled more than $2 billion in funding for the elite school.

The school is the first major university to openly defy the administration's directives, which Trump officials said are to combat antisemitism following campus protests concerning Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.

The administration is also targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, which it called “illegal and immoral discrimination.”