Banners on the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg)
Burroughs extended the temporary restraining order through June 23, noting that she needed more time to formally rule on the request for injunctive relief.
"We'll kick out an opinion as soon as we can," she told the court Monday afternoon, shortly before proceedings wrapped for the day.
At issue is a push to revoke Harvard's credentials under its SEVP program, announced by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in May; and a separate proclamation signed by Trump in June, seeking to block foreign nationals from entering the U.S. if they were planning to study or conduct research at Harvard.
Both actions were temporarily blocked by Burroughs. Now, lawyers for the school are pushing for a more permanent form of relief known as a preliminary injunction.
In the interim, lawyers for Harvard said that the Trump administration's actions have injected "unnecessary uncertainty for Harvard and its students, who may yet again have their status as lawfully present nonimmigrants in the United States abruptly and categorically rescinded."
Harvard argued that the Trump administration's actions would violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment – injecting "continued chaos and lasting damage on Harvard for no compelling reason," they said in a filing.
STATE DEPARTMENT NOW SCRUTINIZING ALL VISA HOLDERS ASSOCIATED WITH HARVARD
Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledges an extended round of applause during Harvard University's commencement ceremonies, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Harvard is also fighting to retain its SEVP accreditation. The program is run by the Department of Homeland Security and allows universities to sponsor international students for U.S. visas for the duration of their enrollment at a public university.
If it loses that status, experts previously told Fox News, thousands of international students currently enrolled at Harvard will have a narrow window to either transfer to another U.S. university, or risk losing their student visas within 180 days.
Lawyers for Harvard previously told Burroughs that ending their SEVP certification would affect roughly 7,000 international students at Harvard – or some 27% of its total student body.
Monday's hearing was the latest in a string of legal dust-ups that have pitted Harvard against the Trump administration – or vice versa – in Trump's second White House term.
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Cambridge, MA - May 23: Hundreds of graduates walked out of the 2024 Commencement in Harvard Yard to call attention to the plight of Palestinians. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Since Trump took office in January, the administration has already frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts awarded to the university, and is proposing to end its tax-exempt status, among other things.
The administration is also targeting Harvard with investigations led by six separate federal agencies.
Combined, these actions have created a wide degree of uncertainty at Harvard.
Legal experts noted the court is wading into largely uncharted territory.
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Asked how it might play out, many scholars pointed to a lack of precedent and offered no clear answer.
"As with many things that Trump does, the answer is unclear, because it hasn't been done before," Josh Blackman, a law professor at South Texas College of Law, said last month. "No president has tried to do this before, so I don't think there's a clear precedent on the answer."
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/harvard-urges-us-judge-block-trumps-plan-ban-international-students