Trump administration can’t avoid 'free speech' trial on student protests: Judge

The Trump administration must face a trial next month over allegations that it used immigration powers to retaliate against foreign student protesters in a case that could test the outer bounds of constitutional protections for noncitizens involved in anti-Israel activism.

U.S. District Judge William Young, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, ruled Monday that a lawsuit brought by academic groups, including the Harvard and New York universities’ chapters of the American Association of University Professors, will proceed to trial on July 7 in Boston. The plaintiffs said the administration used arrests, visa revocations, and deportation threats to punish “free speech” critical of Israel and U.S. foreign policy.