Department of Education demands schools and colleges be race-blind

 

Gate to Harvard campus, Cambridge

Department of Homeland Security demands schools and colleges be race-blind - Boston Globe

 The United States Department of Education - though it is facing dismantling - has issued a series of demands framed as demands for ocmpliance with the recent Supreme Court ruling in the case styled students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard - GWC

“Oversight and accountability for biased programs that fuel antisemitism. Programs and departments that fuel antisemitic harassment must be reviewed and necessary changes made to address bias, improve viewpoint diversity, and end ideological capture.

“Disciplinary reform and consistent accountability. Harvard has an obligation to consistently and proactively enforce its existing disciplinary policies, ensuring that senior administrative leaders are responsible for final decisions. Reforms must include a comprehensive mask ban (with medical and religious exemptions, given identification is always displayed) and a clarified time, place, and manner policy. Harvard must review and report on disciplinary actions for antisemitic rule violations since October 7, 2023.

Related

Trump administration sends Harvard list of demands to avoid cancelation of billions in federal fundingWhat’s in that $9 billion the Trump administration is reviewing at Harvard?

“Student group accountability. Recognized and unrecognized student groups, and their leadership, must be held accountable for violations of Harvard policy.

 

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“Governance and leadership reforms. Harvard must make meaningful governance reforms to improve its organizational structure to foster clear lines of authority and accountability, and to empower faculty and administrative leaders who are committed to implementing the changes indicated in this letter.

“Merit-based admissions reform. Harvard must adopt and implement merit-based admissions policies; cease all preferences based on race, color, or national origin in admissions throughout its undergraduate, graduate, and other programs; and demonstrate through structural and personnel action that these changes are durable.

 

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“Merit-based hiring reform. Harvard must adopt and implement merit-based hiring policies; cease all preferences based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in hiring 

Trump Goes Crazy on Tariffs - Krugman

His numbers make no sense - Krugman

 

Trump Goes Crazy on Tariffs

By Paul Krugman

Just a quick update after Trump’s Rose Garden speech.

I guess it’s just possible that when we get details about the Trump tariffs they will be lower than what he just announced, but based on what he said, he’s gone full-on crazy. It’s not just that he appears to be imposing much higher tariffs than almost anyone expected. He’s also making false claims about our trading partners — not sure in this case whether they’re lies, because he may be truly ignorant — that will both enrage them and make it very hard to back down.

Another one bites the dust: Millbank Tweed buckles under to Trump

 from Bloomberg News 

Milbank Signs Deal With Trump to Avoid Executive Order 

Meghan Tribe

Reporter

Milbank has struck a deal with President Donald Trump to avoid an executive order as the law firm agreed to spend $100 million in pro bono services.

Milbank has also pledged to not engage in any “illegal DEI discrimination” and will not deny representation to clients because of political views of individual lawyers, according to the agreement posted Wednesday on Trump’s Truth Social platform.

Milbank approached the Trump administration “stating their resolve to help end the weaponization of the justice system and the legal profession,” the White House said in the statement.

The announcement comes less than 24 hours after Trump announced a similar deal with Willkie Farr & Gallagher in which that New York-founded law firm also pledged $100 million in pro bono services during the Trump administration. Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom also reached similar deals.

Eric Adams: Judge Ho dismisses charges with prejudice

Mayor Eric Adams: Judge Dale E. Ho dismisses charges "with prejudice "

New York's Mayor Eric Adams has gotten what he sought: the dismissal with prejudie of charges that he corruptly obtained benefits from the government of Turkey.  He will face his challengers without facing trial.  But U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho - who at Adams request dismissed the charges with prejudice - lambasts the Department of Justice for improperly attempting to hold Adams hostage. In a 78 page opinion he writes:

The DOJ does not seek to end this case once and for all.  Rather its request, if granted, would leave  Mayor Adams under the specter of reindictment at essentially anytime and for essentially any reason.

On February 14, 2025, the Department ofJustice ("DOJ") filed a motion seeking to dismiss without prejudice the Indictment against New YorkCity Mayor Eric Adams, pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a).1 ECF No. 122 (the “Rule 48(a) Motion"). DOJ's Motion states that dismissal of this case is justified for several reasons, including because “continuing these proceedings would interfere with” the Mayor's ability to govern, thereby threatening  federal immigration initiatives and policies.” Id. ¶ 6.

A critical feature of DOJ's Motion is that it seeks dismissal without prejudice—that is, DOJ seeks to abandon its prosecution of Mayor Adams at this time, while reserving the right to reinitiate the case in the future. DOJ does not seek to end this case once and for all. Rather, its request, if granted, would leave Mayor Adams under the specter ofreindictment at essentially any time, and for essentially any reason.

The Court declines, in its limited discretion under Rule 48(a), to endorse that outcome.

Instead, it dismisses this case with prejudice—meaning that the Government may not bring the charges in the Indictment against Mayor Adams in the future. In light of DOJ's rationales, dismissing the case without prejudice would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor's freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the  administration,  and that his freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement  priorities of the administration, and that he  that he might be more beholden to the demands of the  federal government that to the wishes of his own constituents.

 That appearance is inevitable,and it counsels in favor of dismissal with prejudice.

A Billion at stake: Trump administration targets Harvard

The U.S. Department of Education - whcih Trump plans to shutter - will not close until it has strangled Harvard and other leading universities.
 

Citing anti-semitism  U.S. Department of Education threatens $ 9 billion in funding for Harvard March 31, 2025

Today, the Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced a comprehensive review of federal contracts and grants at Harvard University and its affiliates. This review is part of the ongoing efforts of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. 

 

The Task Force will review the more than $255.6 million in contracts between Harvard University, its affiliates and the Federal Government. The review also includes the more than $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments to Harvard University and its affiliates to ensure the university is in compliance with federal regulations, including its civil rights responsibilities. 

“Harvard has served as a symbol of the American Dream for generations – the pinnacle aspiration for students all over the world to work hard and earn admission to the storied institution,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination - all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry - has put its reputation in serious jeopardy. Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus.” 

Trump Cannot Win his War on History - David Blight

Trump Cannot Win His War on History

'By David W. Blight

Dr. Blight is the president of the Organization of American Historians.  March 31, 2025 - New York Times

On Thursday President Trump issued an executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
In Mr. Trump’s customary bluster, the order bursts with accusations against unnamed persons who are presumably my fellow historians and museum curators for our “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our nation’s history.”

The order’s repeated invocation of the Smithsonian Institution echoes now-familiar right-wing goals outlined in Project 2025 and elsewhere: ending the alleged “woke” agendas on race and gender, creating “parents’ rights” and school choices and promoting history aligned with founders’ “values.” [See National Museum of African American History]

According to the president, “objective facts” have been replaced with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology.” And then comes that penetrating epithet, the order’s organizing logic: the desire to end the “revisionist movement” carried out by unnamed historians.

The order is nothing less than a declaration of political war on the historians’ profession, our training and integrity, as well as on the freedom — in the form of curious minds — of anyone who seeks to understand our country by visiting museums or historic sites.

  

Anti-abortion Alabama AG barred from threat to prosecute out of state aid

U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson

 Yellowhammer Fund v. Alabama Attorney General Marshall

Case 2:23-cv-00450-MHT-KFP Middle District, Alabama

Myron H. Thompson, D.J. 

Previously, this court wrote in denying a motion to dismiss: “At its core, this case is simply about whether a State may prevent people within its borders from going to another State, and from assisting others in going to another State, to engage in lawful conduct there.” Yellowhammer Fund v. Att’y Gen. of Ala. Steve Marshall, 733 F. Supp. 3d 1167, 1174 (M.D. Ala. 2024) (Thompson, J.). The court now answers no, a State cannot.