Ranking Member Raskin’s Statement on Judiciary Republicans’ Subpoena of Harvard University
Washington, D.C. (June 26, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, issued the following statement on Committee Republicans’ baseless subpoena to Harvard University, the latest Republican attack on independent thought:
“Republicans on the Judiciary Committee—eager foot soldiers in Donald Trump’s war on higher education, free speech, and independent thought—are still attacking Harvard University as it stands up to the Trump Administration’s unlawful and unconstitutional attempt at a hostile takeover of its curriculum, governance, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students. Hiding behind a plainly ridiculous antitrust investigation based on pathetically weak allegations, Chairman Jordan has issued a subpoena to Harvard.
“As a federal judge stated, the Administration’s embarrassing crusade against Harvard squarely takes aim at ‘core constitutional rights that must be safeguarded: freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech, each of which is a pillar of a functioning democracy and an essential hedge against authoritarianism.’
“The Judiciary Committee’s duty is to ensure the ‘protection of civil liberties.’ Today, however, Chairman Jordan is using this Committee’s power and authority to help the Administration attack and undermine academic freedom and the civil liberties of the people.
“If my Republican colleagues were serious about making college more accessible and more affordable, they would join us in fighting to stop the Administration’s cuts to programs that help students pay for colleges, like Pell grants, work-study programs, and SNAP benefits for students.
“Trump’s assault on higher education reflects an effort to subdue and control any institution that could provide a check on the lying and corruption of his authoritarian onslaught, including by destroying institutions of scientific discovery and intellectual inquiry like Harvard, our country’s oldest university.
“Rather than standing up for the Constitution and opposing Trump’s Gangster State agenda, my Republican colleagues are using Congress’s investigative powers to enforce it.”