The Court of Lower Opinion
NYT (Gift Article): Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Bar International Students at Harvard. “The administration action, and Harvard’s response, signified a dramatic escalation of the battle between the administration and Harvard. And the university’s forceful and almost immediate response served as evidence that stopping the flow of international students to Harvard, which draws some of the world’s top scholars, would destabilize Harvard’s very existence.” This isn’t just harming students. One of America’s key global advantages has been the ability to attract and often keep the world’s brightest minds. However this battle plays out, why would future students want to risk coming here?
+ And keep in mind that these attacks on Harvard aren’t about antisemitism or any of the other excuses being offered by the administration. Steven Pinker in the NYT (Gift Article): Harvard Derangement Syndrome. If you read nothing else today, read this excerpt: “Mr. Trump’s strangling of this support will harm Jews more than any president in my lifetime. Many practicing and aspiring scientists are Jewish, and his funding embargo has them watching in horror as they are laid off, their labs are shut down or their dreams of a career in science go up in smoke. This is immensely more harmful than walking past a ‘Globalize the Intifada’ sign. Worse still is the effect on the far larger number of gentiles in science, who are being told that their labs and careers are being snuffed out to advance Jewish interests. Likewise for the current patients whose experimental treatments will be halted, and the future patients who may be deprived of cures. None of this is good for the Jews. The concern for Jews is patently disingenuous, given Mr. Trump’s sympathy for Holocaust deniers and Hitler fans. The obvious motivation is to cripple civil society institutions that serve as loci of influence outside the executive branch. As JD Vance put it in the title of a 2021 speech: ‘The Universities Are the Enemy.'”
+ The latest ruling is par of the course for the administration. But at this point, it’s unclear to what extent the courts can limit the damage being done to institutions and individuals. “Even assuming all those rulings were to be upheld on appeal, some of Mr. Trump’s actions would be easier to undo than others. And the slow pace of litigation means the judiciary is often many steps behind and in some cases, unable to catch up.” NYT (Gift Article): Judges Keep Calling Trump’s Actions Illegal, but Undoing Them Is Hard.
