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With the future of thousands of students at stake, the two sides will argue in person as the Trump administration pushes Harvard to comply with its demands.
May 29, 2025Updated 9:10 a.m. ET
In public statements and social media posts, President Trump has threatened Harvard University financially, calling it a “threat to democracy” and referring to its professors as “birdbrains.”
Now, Harvard lawyers are trying to use the president’s words against him in their legal fight against his administration.
On Thursday, Harvard and Trump administration attorneys will make their first in-person arguments in a Boston federal courtroom, in a case involving the administration’s attempt to ban the university from enrolling international students.
The Trump administration has argued that Harvard has given up the right to host international students on campus, citing what it says are civil rights violations, including allowing antisemitic behavior. The university’s president, Alan M. Garber, has acknowledged some problems with antisemitism but points to major steps he has taken to address it.
In the courtroom, Harvard’s strategy will use the president’s statements as evidence that the government is on a political crusade against the school. In briefs filed in the case, lawyers have argued Trump administration officials have unjustly singled out the university for punishment, violating its First Amendment rights. It has included the president’s aggressive comments as exhibits in its case.
David A. Super, a professor at Georgetown Law, says Harvard’s strategy — pointing to the president’s posts on his social media network, Truth Social — could work.
