Federal Judge Dismisses Antisemitism Lawsuit Against Harvard

Ryan J. Farrick — August 14, 2026

The Widener Library at Harvard University. Image via Wikimedia Commons. Originally posted by Flicker user Joseph Williams. (CCA-BY-2.0). (source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harvard_University_Widener_Library.jpg).

“Without diminishing any concern arising from these occurrences, the court finds them, singly and collectively, to be too isolated and episodic to support a plausible inference that any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persist at Harvard to this day,” the judge wrote.

A Massachusetts-based federal court has dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit accusing Harvard of discriminating against its Jewish students and staff.

According to National Public Radio, the decision was issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns. In his ruling, Stearns said that the Trump administration had broadly failed to prove any ongoing violation of federal civil rights laws. Instead, Stearns observed, many of the lawsuit’s claims appear to focus on incidents that occurred during the 2023-2024 academic year, with the most recent from March 2025.

These cases, the judge said, were “too isolated and episodic” to establish that Harvard had at any point engaged in overt discrimination.

“Without diminishing any concern arising from these occurrences, the court finds them, singly and collectively, to be too isolated and episodic to support a plausible inference that any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persist at Harvard to this day,” Stearns wrote.

Gates to Harvard University. Image via Flickr/user:sackton. (CCA-BY-2.0).

NPR notes that the lawsuit accused Harvard of failing to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations that took place on campus after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The Trump administration claims that Harvard did little to prevent Jewish students from being “harassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon” by protestors.

In May of this year, Harvard moved to have the lawsuit dismissed on technical grounds, arguing that the Trump administration failed to show that the school was still in violation of Title VI at the time that proceedings were initiated.

In a statement issued before the dismissal, Harvard said that it “cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus.” The university’s president, Alan M. Garber, emphasized that the school has taken multiple steps to combat antisemitism, including the formation of a task force and the hiring of new faculty.

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, indicated that the Trump administration plans to appeal the ruling.

“We disagree with the ruling and are assessing next steps,” Dhillon said in a statement.