Judge indefinitely blocks Trump’s proclamation suspending new Harvard international students

A federal judge on Monday indefinitely blocked a recent attempt by President Donald Trump to deprive Harvard University of its ability to bring thousands of international students to its campus.

A federal judge on Monday indefinitely blocked a recent attempt by President Donald Trump to deprive Harvard University of its ability to bring thousands of international students to its campus. Judge Allison Burroughs of the US District Court in Massachusetts decided Trump’s recent presidential proclamation was a violation of the university’s constitutional protections, and part of a retaliatory campaign the Trump administration has waged. The White House said the proclamation against international students coming to the US to study at Harvard was for national security purposes, because Harvard wasn’t properly vetting incoming scholars from other countries. But Burroughs took the opportunity to outline her reaction to the administration’s repeated attempts to cut into Harvard’s student body and approach to teaching. “This case is about core constitutional rights that must be safeguarded: freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech, each of which is a pillar of a functioning democracy and an essential hedge against authoritarianism,” Burroughs wrote in a 44-page opinion Monday. “Here, the government’s efforts to control a reputable academic institution and squelch diverse viewpoints, seemingly because they are, in some instances, opposed to this Administration‘s own views, threaten these rights. To make matters worse, the government attempts to accomplish this, at least in part, on the backs of international students,” she wrote.