A federal judge has dealt yet another humiliating defeat to the Trump administration in its war on Harvard University.
District Judge Allison Burroughs, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2014, temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to prevent the country’s oldest university from enrolling international students.
“I want to maintain the status quo,” Burroughs said in a hearing on Thursday, according to The New York Times. “People are terrified.”
Revoking the school’s ability to enroll foreign students was the latest escalation in the battle. Trump has frozen more than $3 billion in funding for the school and has threatened to rescind its tax-exempt status unless it acquiesces to a lengthy list of demands.
Burrough’s decision arrived as 9,000 graduates of the university gathered in Harvard Yard to receive their diplomas. The Times reported that “sporadic cheers” rang out as the students heard about the judge’s ruling.
A spokesperson for the university celebrated the decision in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“Harvard will continue to take steps to protect the rights of our international students and scholars, members of our community who are vital to the University’s academic mission and community—and whose presence here benefits our country immeasurably,” the spokesperson said.
The White House did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the decision.
Harvard—one of the country’s most selective and prestigious universities—has been in the president’s crosshairs since he returned to office.
Trump has accused the school of having a liberal bias and failing to adequately combat antisemitism on campus.
He has also argued that more of its spots should go to American students. There are about 7,000 international students at Harvard, about a quarter of its enrollment.
On Wednesday, Trump declared that the university was “getting their a-- kicked” in the legal fight.
“Harvard’s got to behave themselves,” he said. “Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect and all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper.”
Since returning to office, Trump has faced a string of legal defeats—related to his attacks on Harvard, but also on its push to end birthright citizenship and its mass deportation effort.
