The attorneys general for 17 states filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday arguing that its new order demanding voluminous piles of student admissions data in an attempt to thwart covert affirmative action is onerous, untenable, and in some cases impossible to fulfill.

The states are also asking the court to block the administrative demand for the data because, they argue, it is unlawful to “collect data to further partisan political ends.”

The directive, issued last August by President Donald Trump, told universities to submit detailed admissions data, including race, gender, standardized test scores, and GPAs of applicants, as well as admitted and enrolled students.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said at the time the new data would “allow Americans to ensure race-based preferences are not used in university admissions processes.”

Trump’s directive instructed McMahon to overhaul the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or IPEDS, to better track the data and identify noncompliant institutions. Consequences could include penalties, such as loss of federal funding, if universities failed to comply.

The states in their lawsuit argue the directive is too much — especially since the Education Department is now demanding retroactive data from the past seven years.

The data request “is unprecedented in scope, seeking a vast array of disaggregated data from the 2025-2026 academic year and six prior years,” the lawsuit states.

“Never before has IPEDS sought retroactive data; never before has IPEDS sought such a vast array of
disaggregated data; and never before has the Department of Education so quickly effected a major
change to IPEDS.”

A news release from Washington’s Attorney General Nick Brown states the department’s “rushed implementation of the new data requirements ignores the incredible burden they place on institutions and dramatically increases the possibility of inadvertent reporting errors and unreliable data.”

“For example,” the release states, “in their haste to roll out the new requirements, ED failed to provide definitions for critical terms, leaving universities guessing what information they are supposed to provide, and facing severe financial penalties if they guess wrong. Furthermore, ED has eliminated hundreds of positions, including within the very offices responsible for providing clarity about the requirements to universities.”

The lawsuit argues several requested data items cannot even be provided by some colleges and universities: “Some [institutions] do not ask students to identify their race; others do not require test scores for admission.”

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