Tracking Key Lawsuits Against the Trump Administration

By Jessica Blake

President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape higher education and the federal government have spurred a flurry of lawsuits as higher education associations, students, legal advocacy organizations and colleges push back and seek relief through the courts.

The lawsuits started almost immediately after Trump’s first day, and seven months later, advocates continue to file new complaints, challenging various executive orders, guidance documents or decisions to cut grants. Inside Higher Ed is tracking some of the key legal challenges related to higher ed. That includes Harvard University’s efforts to restore more than $2.7 billion in frozen research funding and protect its ability to enroll international students as well as several lawsuits aiming to stop the dismantling of the Education Department. Of the 42 included in our searchable database, judges have ruled against the administration in two-thirds of the cases so far. You can find more analysis of the lawsuits filed so far here.

We’ll refresh the database weekly, so check back on Mondays for updates.

What’s new as of Sept. 15: The American Federation of Teachers revamped its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s handling of loan forgiveness. The union originally sued the department in March when it announced that it would temporarily shut off applications for income-driven repayment plans and loan consolidation. That suit was paused just weeks later when the department agreed to reopen applications and provide monthly status reports. But since then, AFT argues, the department has failed to truly provide constituents access to the legal benefits of an IDR plan. As such, AFT filed an amended complaint, arguing that though the Office of Federal Student Aid is technically accepting applications, “in practice more than a million borrowers still do not have access to their Congressionally mandated benefits.” The new argument also notes that borrowers who have satisfied the requirements of Public Service Loan Forgiveness are not seeing their debts discharged. 

Inside Higher Ed has also added a new case to the tracker concerning the termination of federal grants at the National Science Foundation. A recent ruling in that case shows how the Supreme Court’s recent guidance on lawsuits concerning grant terminations will significantly slow any effort to block the funding freezes. The district court judge in American Association of Physics Teachers v. NSF ruled that only the Court of Federal Claims has jurisdiction to manage such cases, citing the Supreme Court’s orders, and declined to issue a preliminary injunction to block the grants.