Trump Lawsuit Is Do-Over of Case Already Won, Harvard Says

Harvard University filed a motion on Monday claiming the Trump administration’s recent antisemitism lawsuit is a rehashing of a case the university already won.

In the memorandum, Harvard’s attorneys asked the Massachusetts District Court to transfer the suit from federal judge Richard Stearns to federal judge Allison Burroughs. Burroughs presided over Harvard v. HHS, a similar case brought by Harvard to challenge the Trump administration’s freezing of federal funding over antisemitism concerns. Court rules dictate the related cases be assigned to the same judge.

“The Government now seeks a do-over and brings this case resting on the same unfounded allegations and seeking the same unconstitutional result: termination of Harvard’s federal funding,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote in the filing.

Burroughs ruled in Harvard’s favor in September, writing that the Trump administration had illegally frozen federal grants for the university and that Harvard was actively addressing antisemitism on campus. Harvard attorneys argued in the Monday memorandum that these efforts to address antisemitism on campus were completely ignored in the Trump administration’s new complaint.

In a statement to The New York Times, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said that “Harvard University allowed its Jewish students to be targeted, harassed, and discriminated against for years” and that “President Trump is committed to ensuring students can pursue their academic goals in a safe environment.”