Overview

• The Departments of Education and Health and Human Services launched investigations into the Harvard Law Review over alleged race-based discrimination in article selection and membership policies.
• Internal memos reportedly revealed that editors prioritized racial diversity over merit in publication decisions, citing authors' minority status as a factor for expedited review.
• These probes follow the Trump administration's freeze of $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard, with additional cuts and sanctions, including tax-exempt status revocation, under consideration.
• Key issues include whether the Harvard Law Review, though student-run, is legally and financially integrated with the university, making it subject to Title VI regulations.
• Harvard has not yet publicly responded to the investigations, while its lawsuit challenging the funding freeze is set for a July hearing.