Welcome back to After the First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m your host, Jessica Blake, IHE’s federal policy reporter, and it’s Day 228 of the second Trump administration.
This week, a federal judge declared that the administration used “antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities” and that it unlawfully froze more than $2 billion in research grants at Harvard University. The decision is a victory for Harvard and gives the university leverage in settlement talks. But colleges shouldn't pop open the champagne bottles yet. The Supreme Court still has to weigh in.
We also saw yet another lawsuit challenging state laws that provide undocumented students with in-state tuition. The Justice Department suit filed against Illinois on Tuesday adds to a growing list of instances in which the president is using litigation to spark policy changes—often tied to his crackdown on so-called discriminatory behavior.
As a blue state, Illinois will likely push back against the legal challenge. But in multiple cases, the Trump administration has filed lawsuits against Republican states, like Texas and Oklahoma, and the state attorneys general quickly sided with the president. In both of these scenarios, lawmakers had no say and the case saw little debate in court. Each judge agreed to block the state laws.
Higher education and legal experts told me this new judicial tactic—pitting Republicans against Republicans—is collusion. But even if that's the case, they added, colleges, universities and student advocacy groups can do little to stop it. With district judges denying third-party attempts to intervene and a Supreme Court that has yet to rule against the Trump administration, the odds of reinstating in-state tuition options for undocumented students seem bleak.
In Other News: The August recess is officially over, and the race is on to pass a federal budget. If the House and Senate can’t reach a spending agreement by Oct. 1, the government will shut down.
House appropriators on Tuesday outlined their plan to fund the Education Department and other agencies. Compared to President Trump’s proposal, the cuts House Republicans made were gentle—they protected the Pell Grant and TRIO while making smaller slashes to programs like the Federal Work-Study and cutting millions from the Office for Civil Rights. Meanwhile, the Senate’s version kept higher ed funding flat.
Policy experts say it's highly unlikely that Congress will cut a funding deal in time. But even if they do, Trump has repeatedly chosen to ignore congressional orders and freeze millions of federal dollars. Knowing this, Democrats in both chambers and some Republicans in the Senate may hesitate to pass the bill until they find a way to ensure Trump will do as they say.
That’s it for Week 33. As always, we are looking to you for a pulse from on the ground. If you have story ideas, unanswered questions or just want to chat, you can reach me at jessica.blake@insidehighered.com.
If, or when, news breaks this afternoon or over the weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be traveling to Philadelphia to see family and run up the Rocky steps. Have a good weekend!
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