Harvard has recently announced that it will fight Trump’s effort to demand that Harvard make a number of DEI and other policy changes under threat that Trump will revoke hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in federal grants. This is a relief simply to the extent that we need powerful, wealthy institutions like Harvard to show that it can’t be rolled over. (For the opposite, see Big Law.)
I’ve not seen this reported yet, but one of the two lead lawyers defending Harvard against Trump is Robert K. Hur — who you may remember had served as the Special Counsel investigating President Biden’s retention of classified documents and who created quite a stir by stating that the president appeared elderly and forgetful. Mr. Hur also served as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, as a top aide to Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the Trump administration, and Trump later named Mr. Hur as the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland.
Putting aside old fights, Mr. Hur’s involvement is very helpful and it is good to see prominent lawyers who formerly worked under the Trump administration now fight back against his excesses.
After watching Trump sit in the Oval Office with a Central American dictator and defy a Supreme Court Order, this will obviously be an all-hands-on-deck fight.
A copy of Mr. Hur’s letter, joined with Quinn Emannuel, is here.
