The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board slammed the "bare-knuckle tactics" President Donald Trump has used to try and force Harvard University to change its campus antisemitism policies.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration has violated Harvard's First Amendment rights by conditioning university funding on adopting certain antisemitism and diversity policies. The judge restored the more than $2 billion in funding the Trump administration froze, and the order prohibits the administration from placing future restrictions on university funding.
"Mr. Trump could take his legal loss as a hint," the editorial board wrote in a new. "Instead, it might make him see crimson and do worse. But when the next Democratic President uses this precedent to target campus conservatives or climate 'deniers,' the right will be singing Harvard’s current fight song."
The editorial board also warned him that escalating the fight with Harvard could create significant legal repercussions.
"The White House is waging a multi-front war against Harvard that has involved cutting off federal funding, banning foreign student enrollment, and threatening its tax-exempt status and even its patents," the board wrote.
"Mr. Trump’s laudable aim is to clean up the antisemitic rot on campus," the editorial adds. "But its brass-knuckle tactics are doing damage to the rule of law and the First Amendment."