WilmerHale Partners Seth Waxman and Felicia Ellsworth talk with Lawrence Bacow, the 29th President of Harvard University, about the lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT challenging the Trump administration’s controversial directive to ban international students from the United States if they took most of their fall 2020 courses online. Waxman, Ellsworth and a team of lawyers represented the universities during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately filing a lawsuit challenging the directive in a mere 23 hours and obtaining a successful result.

Links:

• Harvard’s decision to close the campus on March 10, 2020 and the impact on students, especially international students, faculty and scholars (Boston Globe)
• ICE’s July 6, 2020 directive (NPR)
• Summary of Reversal (LawFare)
• Harvard President Lawrence Bacow's bio
• Seth Waxman's bio
• Felicia Ellsworth's bio