A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has temporarily blocked the Education Department from publishing the names of individual foreign donors to U.S. colleges and universities. Judge Tanya Chutkan's order came in a lawsuit filed by the Association of American Universities. The department had collected donor names since 2020 while telling institutions it would not publish them, then reversed course in June 2026 and planned to release the names on October 2, 2026.
Judge Chutkan found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the policy change was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. She noted that an agency changing position must acknowledge the change, give good reasons, and account for serious reliance interests. The government's only stated justification was an asserted statutory mandate to disclose, which the judge called unelaborated and internally inconsistent because the department treated the withholding of addresses as a discretionary policy matter.
The judge also found that publication would likely cause irreparable harm, since once donor names are public they cannot be made confidential again, and could create safety risks for donors in politically repressive countries. The balance of equities and the public interest favored the plaintiffs, especially because the government conceded that the only harm from delay was postponing a purported statutory command. The government's June statement emphasized national security and First Amendment concerns, but Judge Chutkan did not reach those claims in granting the temporary restraining order.