PSJD News Digest – May 23, 2025

May 23, 2025 at 4:40 pm · Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

Hi Interested Public,

Welcome to the end of another week. Glad you’re still with us. Events fall fast and thick around us again this week: In Cambridge MA, the Harvard Chapter of the American Association of University Professors has called upon colleagues at sister institutions to assist the University’s international students who face potential immigration problems after the Trump Administration suddenly decertified Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (later in the day, a federal court issued a temporary restraining order against the decertification). Also in MA, a federal judge pressed the government to lay out with specificity its rationale against “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” in a case against the National Institutes of Health. In California, another judge issued another order preventing ongoing reductions in force at a broad swath of agencies; the Trump Administration has already appealed. In Congress, a bill that would rewrite huge swathes of federal policy, including student loans and non-profit tax status, passed the House of Representatives.

As always, these stories and more are in the links below. Solidarity,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

  • Trump Admin Revokes Harvard’s Authorization To Enroll International Students (Harvard Crimson; 22 May 2025)

    “When a university’s SEVP certification is revoked, currently enrolled international students must choose between transferring to a different institution, changing their immigration status, or leaving the country, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement website…In the letter to Garber, Noem alleged that the records that Harvard submitted on April 30 were “insufficient” and failed to address “simple reporting requirements.” She also accused Harvard of “perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, you have lost this privilege.”…

    Noem gave Harvard 72 hours to turn over a flurry of documents to the DHS to have “the opportunity” to regain its SEVP certification before the upcoming academic year. Those documents include paper records, audio, and video of protest activity by any international student enrolled at any of Harvard’s schools in the last five years. The DHS also asked for the full slate of disciplinary records of international students at Harvard for the last five years. It is unclear whether the Trump administration will restore Harvard’s SEVP certification if it submits the requested documents.”

    • Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program Decertification (Department of Homeland Security; 22 May 2025)

      “[E]ffective immediately, Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked. The revocation of your Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification means that Harvard is prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic school year. This decertification also means that existing aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status.”

    • What SEVP Revocation Would Mean for International Students at Harvard (Harvard Crimson; 22 May 2025)

      “Current international students will need to transfer out of Harvard or risk losing their ability to remain in the United States lawfully if the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification remains in effect…Despite the sweeping nature of the directive, students that are set to graduate from Harvard during next week’s Commencement ceremony should be eligible to receive their degrees, according to eight immigration lawyers who spoke with The Crimson. The revocation of Harvard’s SEVP status does not immediately invalidate student visas, according to Vijay. Instead, she said the agency is likely to give students some grace period to determine how they will respond before taking more drastic measures. “They did not say 15 days or 60 days or two days — nothing,” Vijay said. “When we get such clients, we tell them to ‘hurry up,’ and within 15 days at best, try to transfer.” Immigration attorney Dahlia M. French also said there will be a deadline for students to address their immigration status or transfer, though the DHS has not publicly announced one. Students who transfer to a SEVP-certified university would be able to retain a valid I-20, and thus avoid losing their visas. But the transfer deadline for many schools falls in March, meaning students’ status in the U.S. would be in jeopardy while they wait for applications to open.”

Federal RIFs

  • White House officials wanted to put federal workers ‘in trauma.’ It’s working. (Washington Post; 20 May 2025)

    “When Trump took office in January, 2.4 million people worked for the federal government, making it America’s largest employer. In four months, Trump and a chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk have hacked off chunks of government in the name of efficiency, with tactics rarely seen in public or private industry. The cuts so far represent roughly 6 percent of the federal workforce, but they have effectively wiped out entire departments and agencies, such as AmeriCorps and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was slashed 85 percent; the Education Department was cut in half. Some have found themselves fired, rehired, then let go again. Many have been ridiculed as “lazy” and “corrupt.” They’ve been locked out of offices by police, fired for political “disloyalty,” and told to check their email to see if they still draw a paycheck.

    In interviews, more than 30 former and current federal workers told The Washington Post that the chaos and mass firings had left them feeling devalued, demoralized and scared for themselves and the country. Many described problems they’d never experienced before: insomnia, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts. Others with a history of mental struggles said they’d found themselves pushed into terrifying territory.”

  • Supreme Court allows Trump to remove agency heads without cause for now (SCOTUS Blog; 22 May 2025)

    “In an unsigned two-page order, the court explained that the decision to put the lower courts’ orders on hold “reflects our judgment that the Government faces greater risk of harm from an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty.” Justice Elena Kagan dissented from the court’s order, in an eight-page opinion joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Calling the order “nothing short of extraordinary,” Kagan would have turned down the Trump administration’s request. The dispute stems from Trump’s efforts to remove two federal officials, Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris of the Merits Systems Protection Board, earlier this year.”

  • DOGE sought access to congressional worker-rights watchdog (Politico; 16 May 2025)

    “Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative sought this week to gain access to the congressional office which fields and manages complaints about discrimination, harassment, accessibility and other workplace issues, according to three congressional employees granted anonymity to describe the sensitive situation. The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights is the third legislative branch agency that the Trump administration has recently attempted to access.”

  • Judge blocks Trump DOGE plans for mass firing of federal workers (CNBC; 23 May 2025)

    “The order issued late Thursday granted a preliminary injunction that pauses further reductions in force and “reorganization of the executive branch for the duration of the lawsuit.” The Trump administration on Friday morning appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and is expected to ask that court to block the injunction from taking effect.”

    • Order Granting Preliminary Injunction; AFL-CIO v. Trump [Case No. 25-cv-03698-SI] (NDCA; 22 May 2025)

      “This injunction shall apply to the following defendant agencies: OMB, OPM, DOGE (USDS), USDA, Commerce, Energy, HHS, HUD, Interior, Labor, State, Treasury, Transportation, VA, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, EPA, GSA, NLRB, NSF, SBA, and SSA. Plaintiffs have presented evidence that these agencies are implementing, or preparing to soon implement, large-scale RIFs and reorganizations pursuant to the Executive Order and OMB/OPM Memo.”

  • Ex-Office of Personnel Management Employees Challenge DOGE in Class Action Appeal (Gilbert Employment Law PC; 22 May 2025)

    “Former employees of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have filed a class action appeal seeking reinstatement after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) carried out a Reduction in Force (RIF), impacting hundreds of employees around the country. The RIF, which the former employees allege was done without the required Congressional authorization, effectively shuttered several offices in an agency upon which the entire federal government and workforce rely.”

Civil Society

  • House Passes Budget Reconciliation Bill That Would Tax Nonprofits Nearly $50B (NonProfit Pro; 23 May 2025)

    “Changes to the bill are expected in the Senate, but senators’ concerns have mainly centered around issues like reducing the deficit, adjusting cuts to Medicaid and green-energy tax credits, and shifting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program costs to the states. Therefore, it’s unclear if there are plans to remove any of the provisions affecting nonprofits since they are primarily designed to offset the tax cuts.”

Student Debt & Other Student Concerns

Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

  • US judge grills government lawyer on DEI in suit against massive health cuts (Boston Globe; 22 May 2025)

    ““Someone’s got to help me on that,” [Judge] Young added. “I’m not making policy statements. I’m asking for a definition of a policy that squares with what I had always understood were the defining elements of the American experience.”…he pressed Khetarpal for more clarity about the government’s approach to DEI initiatives, which the Trump administration is working to scrub from American education, government, social services, and the workplace.

    “Does that mean our policy is homogeneity, inequity, and exclusion? I mean, are you going to stand there and tell me, that now is the policy of the National Institutes of Health?” Young asked. …“Someone in this administration says DEI, there’s apparently something wrong with that. As neutrally as you can, what does that mean?” Young asked.” [emphasis added]

Access to Justice

  • ICE ending migrants' court cases in order to arrest and move to deport them (CBS; 23 May 2025)

    “Lawyers and advocates this week reported arrests of migrants outside of immigration courthouses across the U.S., saying teams of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had detained individuals whose cases in front of immigration judges had just been terminated at the request of the government…”

  • Justice Department ends police reform agreements and halts investigations into major departments (CNN; 21 May 2025)

    “The Trump administration is moving to dismiss federal oversight agreements in Louisville and Minneapolis reached following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and police killing of George Floyd, and dropping investigations into several major US police departments…In court filings Wednesday morning, the Justice Department asked judges in Minnesota and Kentucky to dismiss the consent decrees reached with the police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville…The Civil Rights Division is also closing investigations into local police departments in Phoenix; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Mount Vernon, New York; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Louisiana State Police.”

  • Illinois public defenders, their clients deserve a FAIR shake (Chicago Sun Times; 20 May 2025)

    “This month, the Illinois Senate will consider the Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation Act, a bill to create a statewide, independent public defense system. If passed, the legislation will create an Office of the State Public Defender and a State Public Defender Commission. Together, they would establish workload standards, support training and enhance resources for county public defense systems across the state.”