Top Public Policy Issues Facing Governing Boards in 2025–2026:
Judicial Outcomes

Published March 28, 2025

Many of the dozens of executive orders signed by the president and actions by newly appointed agency heads have been challenged in the federal courts, including those affecting higher education. College and university associations immediately went to court to stop the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and reduction of funding for scientific and medical research. Other suits brought before federal judges soon followed. Most of these rulings have begun with a judge’s temporary restraining order, or an injunction postponing action until further legal arguments, pro and con, can be made. It might take weeks, months, or even years before final verdicts are rendered, especially on injunctions that are appealed to higher courts. In all likelihood, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the president’s efforts to freeze or rescind monies already appropriated by Congress violates the Constitution and the 1974 Impoundment Control Act.

Courts increasingly are expanding the scope of their jurisdiction over the executive branch, whether under Democratic or Republican control. Judges from the federal district court level to the U.S. Supreme Court showed no reluctance to enjoin and overturn Biden regulations and executive orders, from Title IX to forgiveness of student-loan debt. Even with a conservative majority on the high court, the new administration can expect similar treatment.

The 43 million Americans who owe $1.7 trillion in student loans likely will receive little or no forgiveness with Congress and the White House in Republican hands. The Supreme Court earlier scuttled Biden’s attempt to forgive $430 million of that debt.¹ That attempt to write off up to $20,000 in loans per borrower usurped Congress’s authority and “created a novel and fundamentally different loan forgiveness program,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the 6–3 decision in June 2023.

The Department of Education’s income-contingent loan repayment programs were thrown into disarray by a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in February 2025 that blocked a Biden attempt to lower what borrowers pay based on their incomes. The Department of Education stopped processing applications for income-driven repayment plans, which tailor borrowers’ loan payments to a percentage of their monthly incomes and set conditions whereby loans can be forgiven.²

The Supreme Court in several rulings, including Chevron USA v. NRDC (National Resources Defense Council), an environmental case, has narrowed the ability of executive branch agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency to make what they considered reasonable interpretations of laws, including the Clean Air Act.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) warned that, “Recent national and judicial and legislative trends make it increasingly difficult to bring scientific expertise to bear on long-term decision making.” The Chevron decision “elevates the policy and regulatory authorities of Congress and the courts, moving away from the delegation and deference” placed in executive branch agencies with the most expertise, AAAS said.³

The impact of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision outlawing use of race in selective college admissions is still rippling through higher education and the private sector, as those opposed to affirmative action sue to stop racial preferences in scholarship programs, hiring, and other aspects of American life. The University of California, in a state that barred the use of race in admissions almost three decades ago, was sued in February 2025 by a group of white and Asian-American students who charged that the UC system collected racial data in indirect ways that gave Black and Hispanic applicants an unfair advantage.⁴ The letter the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent colleges and universities in February essentially made that same argument on a broader scale, and warned them they faced the loss of funding if they tried to salvage racial preferences by “proxies or other means.”⁵ OCR subsequently released a document answering questions about its position on racial preferences.⁶

Some corporations jettisoned internships reserved for minority groups.⁷ Targeted funding for minority serving institutions is likely to face challenges, though the president has expressed support in the past for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). There are 91 four-year and 17 two-year HBCUs, 274 Hispanic-Serving Institutions with at least 25 percent Hispanic undergraduate enrollment, and 35 Tribal Colleges and Universities.

The courts are once again being called upon to decide the legality and future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which then-President Barack Obama created by an executive order. It shields from deportation and provides work authorization for undocumented children who arrived in the United States before their 16^th birthday, were enrolled in or graduates of U.S. schools or colleges, or served in the military. Its protections were limited to those born on or after June 16, 1981, and who were under 31 as of June 15, 2012, the day Obama signed the order. Since then, more than one million of these individuals, called Dreamers, most now adults in their 20s and 30s, have received DACA protection. This has allowed them, in the words of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, “to attend school, work, plan their lives, and contribute to their communities without fear of deportation.”⁸ The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) reported that as of Sept. 30, 2024, there were 537,730 individuals covered by DACA. By some estimates, as many as 3.6 million people—nearly a third of the undocumented population—were eligible, but most never applied.⁹

Their ranks are dwindling as roughly 100,000 more undocumented students graduate from high school each year. The Presidents’ Alliance estimated that 408,000 undocumented students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in 2024, but only 181,000 were Dreamers or eligible to apply for Dreamer status. The undocumented account for 1.9 percent of all U.S. college students. Almost half the Dreamers are Hispanic, more than a quarter are Asian American Pacific Islanders, and nearly 14 percent are Black. Undocumented students are ineligible for federal grants or loans, but 25 states and the District of Columbia allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at their public colleges and universities, and 16 states offer financial aid to graduates of their high schools who are undocumented, according to the National Immigration Law Center.¹⁰ A conservative group sued the University of North Texas in 2021 for allowing undocumented Texas students to pay in-state tuition. A judge ruled that practice was illegal, but the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2023 overturned that decision.¹¹

The president in his first term sought to rescind DACA, but the Supreme Court in 2020 in a 5–4 ruling overturned that administrative action as “arbitrary and capricious.” A federal judge in Texas in 2021 barred CIS from approving new DACA applications, but CIS continues to issue two-year renewals for those with DACA status who apply to renew their work authorization. The Biden Administration on August 30, 2022 had issued a final rule “to preserve and fortify” DACA, but that was immediately challenged and blocked by the courts, including a January 2025 ruling by the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the program was unlawful.¹² The president said after his November 2024 reelection that he wanted “to work something out” for the Dreamers who have built successful lives here.¹³ But past attempts to reach a bipartisan deal have foundered. Despite the president’s expressed sympathy for the Dreamers, it remains to be seen whether even they would be impacted by changes to immigration enforcement.

The international-student offices of colleges and universities small and large face the challenge of helping international students and scholars navigate the U.S. visa system. An American Council on Education (ACE) issue brief sought to explain a host of immigration-related campus concerns, including the status of international students, faculty, and staff. “DACA does not confer legal status or a pathway to citizenship, and it is relevant to only a small portion of the undocumented individuals in the United States,” the ACE brief noted. While courts blocked the president’s initial 2017 travel ban on Muslims from certain countries, a third version was allowed “on the basis that the president possesses broad latitude to limit who may enter the United States,” ACE said. Travel bans can apply to international faculty as well as staff. “Given the threats to DACA, it may be prudent for individuals with DACA to seek other immigration options such as employer-sponsored temporary visas or green cards,” ACE recommends.¹⁴

The president’s intention to conduct mass deportations could have repercussions beyond the DACA population for colleges and universities, even if the first targets are those charged with serious crimes. A traffic stop could wind up with an undocumented person landing in jail where their fingerprints are run and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are notified. Deportation orders could affect not only undocumented students but also undocumented faculty and staff. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that a January 29, 2025, the presidential executive order states that “alien students and staff” could be deported if they participate in anti-Semitic protests and violence.¹⁵ That prediction was borne out when ICE arrested a Palestinian graduate student who led protests at Columbia University against Israel’s conduct of its war with Hamas and said it was revoking his student visa. The student, Mahmud Khalil, who recently was awarded a master’s degree, holds a green card signifying he is a lawful permanent resident and is married to a U.S. citizen. Nonetheless, he was imprisoned and held at an ICE jail in Louisiana. A federal judge ordered ICE not to deport him while Khalil’s attorneys pressed for his release. Agents also arrested and jailed a Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow, Badar Khan Suri, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked his student visa for alleged spreading of Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism.¹⁶ Suri is Indian and his wife is Palestinian.

The Department of Homeland Security reversed a policy dating back to the 1990s of not carrying out immigration raids in “sensitive” locations such as schools, colleges, hospitals, churches, synagogues, and mosques. If college and university officials seek to bar immigration agents from their campuses, they likely would face pressure from Republicans in Congress to restrict their eligibility for federal grants, including student aid.

State courts have been drawn into disputes in Florida and elsewhere over issues of academic freedom and DEI programs. With unified federal control by Republicans in Washington, dockets will be bulging with more such challenges in both state and federal courts.