Judge blocks Trump demand for data on California college applicants

Key Points:

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from requiring public universities in 17 Democratic-led states to submit seven years of detailed admissions data, including GPA and test scores, to investigate alleged illegal race considerations in admissions.
• The ruling provides temporary relief to large university systems like the University of California and California State University, which argued the data request was burdensome, rushed, and risked student privacy.
• The Trump administration's expanded data collection policy aimed to enforce civil rights laws after the Supreme Court banned affirmative action policies in 2023, but states like California criticized it as a partisan "fishing expedition."
• Separate investigations by the Department of Justice are ongoing into medical schools at UC San Diego and Stanford for alleged racial discrimination, with demands for extensive student data under threat of federal funding cuts.
• The government warned that delays in data collection could hinder transparency in admissions statistics, while colleges that fail to comply risk fines under the Higher Education Act of 1965.