Democracy is at stake in Harvard's lawsuit against Trump

[marmar]

Democracy is at stake in Harvard’s lawsuit against Trump
At the case's heart is whether the First Amendment will survive the administration's assaults

By Sabrina Haake
Contributing Writer
Published July 28, 2025 6:30AM (EDT)




(Salon) Last week, for more than two hours inside a Boston courtroom, a federal judge heard oral arguments in Harvard University’s lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s restrictions on its federal research funding. Over $2 billion is at stake in the lawsuit, along with vital lines of scientific inquiry, research jobs and, most of all, the question of a private institution’s autonomy.

The arguments heard were for summary judgment, which means both sides agree on the facts but disagree on how the law applies to those facts. Neither Harvard nor the Trump administration dispute that the president made certain unprecedented written demands to the university, which were accompanied by unprecedented threats if they refused to comply.

Harvard refused to comply, and sued instead.

The party that loses summary judgment will appeal, and the final disposition will likely, eventually, come from the Supreme Court. Such a ruling will have lasting consequences. If the high court’s conservative majority further empowers Trump’s edicts under their misguided “unitary executive theory,” which holds that the president has absolute control over the entire executive branch, it’s possible our 249-year history of ideological freedoms will come to an end. ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/28/democracy-is-at-stake-in-harvards-lawsuit-against-trump/

[Scrivener7]

1. And Columbia could erase some of it's shame by backing them.