Lauren Libby

It’s One of the Worst Things Nixon Did. Trump Is Copying It. Thanks to Donald, the most dangerous file in Washington is … your mortgage application?

New piece out in Slate! @slate.com slate.com/news-and-pol...

Is this email a joke?

Here’s who stands to gain from the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ And who may struggle | CNN Business President Donald Trump has promised that the “big, beautiful bill” passed by the Senate and being considered by the House of Representatives will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation in...

Just woke up from oral surgery and found out the One Big Beautiful Act actually became law. And no, it wasn’t the drugs talking. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/07/...

Trump administration finds Harvard in ‘violent violation’ of Civil Rights Act, threatens further loss of federal funds | CNN Politics A Trump administration investigation has found Harvard University in “violent violation” of the Civil Rights Act, once more escalating its battle with the school days after President Donald Trump sugg...

The Trump administration is clearly laying the groundwork to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. This is exactly why Bob Jones needs to be overruled.

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/...

the president does not actually have the power to fire a university president or a museum director, but if elites simply roll over under pressure, then effectively he does

The GOP megabill takes aim at universities. But Hillsdale College gets a carveout. The institution went so far as to hire lobbyists to make its case — and they were armed with an argument tailored perfectly for the right.

Once again, maybe the real problem isn’t Hillsdale. It’s that Congress keeps trying to write an endowment tax that gives preferential treatment to organized religion, and leaves it to the IRS to decide which institutions qualify. This tax shouldn’t exist at all.

www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Rep. Stefanik asks SEC to investigate Harvard bond sale for disclosure lapse "The market itself should want to look at this because no one wants to give the perception of impropriety," said an investor of Stefanik's allegation that Harvard withheld material information regardi...

For everyone who’s brushed off the endowment tax and said, “Harvard doesn’t need an endowment, it can just act like a regular business and raise debt like everyone else”...well, here you go. Nothing is safe from the GOP and the Trump administration.
🔗 www.bondbuyer.com/news/rep-ste...

Treasury Takes Aim at Hundreds of Colleges’ Tax-Exempt Status Over Race The US Treasury Department is considering changing rules to revoke tax-exempt status for colleges that consider race in student admissions, scholarships and other areas — potentially threatening the f...

On May 23, the IRS said “it is up to the established processes of the IRS to ensure that any nonprofit is abiding by its legal obligations to retain such a designation.”
Now those processes are being rewritten to serve Trump’s agenda. Major departure for the agency. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Harvard isn’t violating a law. They’re just killing, you know, the vibe.

(The vibe is state-imposed ideology on higher ed.)

Trump’s Attacks Threaten Much More Than Harvard If the government succeeds in bullying the richest university into submission, what institutions will be safe?

This 👏 is 👏 spot 👏 on. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Universities, even public universities (and what's under discussion is a private one) are part of the plurality of civil society. Universities are older than states, have their own purposes and meaning, and are not reducible to what any political administration tries to accomplish.

International students are more than just funding sources for American students.

Once again, not only an assault on higher education, but also an unprecedented authoritarian attack on property rights, the sanctity of legal contracts, & the rule of law. Even if you hate everything about academia & professors, you should be terrified & furious about this.

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Trump considers redirecting $3 billion in Harvard grants to US trade schools President Donald Trump said he is considering taking $3 billion of previously awarded grant money for scientific and engineering research away from Harvard University and giving it to trade schools.

@beaubaumann.bsky.social I bet he’ll actually do it. Someone will sue, courts will say it’s illegal, but Trump will just shrug and the funds will be gone.
I guess the new rule for the executive is ignore the law and implement your policy wishlist straight away.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Proposed endowment tax could stifle financial aid, research funding Experts suggested that student financial aid and funding for university research could be inhibited by a proposed increase on Yale’s endowment tax from 1.4 to 21 percent — and that the options for sch...

🎙️ Spoke with @yaledailynews about the proposed endowment tax and its potential impact on financial aid, research funding, and international student enrollment.

yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/05...

yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/05...

#HigherEd #EndowmentTax #Yale

Richard Nixon's presidency-ending crimes were harmless high school pranks by comparison. We are so far past the "this should have immediately led to impeachment & removal" that we can't even see the exit/signs anymore. Barack Obama would have been ousted in days if he tried this authoritarian BS.

GO BLUE!!!!!

Trump Has Found a New and Even Scarier Way to Come For Elite Universities Among other things, the government would soon find itself deeper in the business of judging what counts as “religion.”

My new piece in Slate: The House just passed the most extreme university endowment tax ever proposed. It’s punitive, Trump-approved, and it threatens ALL universities’ ability to enroll foreign students. Here’s what’s in the bill, and why it matters.

slate.com/news-and-pol...

Via @slate.com

Trump Has Found a New and Even Scarier Way to Come For Elite Universities Among other things, the government would soon find itself deeper in the business of judging what counts as “religion.”

Working link below:

slate.com/news-and-pol...

Harvard, Yale, and Others May Have Another Litigation Opportunity | Tax Notes Victor Thuronyi examines the constitutionality of a proposed exception to the excise tax on university endowments and the difficulties in determining whether an institution is truly “religious.”

Great piece by Victor Thuronyi on some of the more bizarre features of the latest GOP endowment tax bill. Do we really want the IRS deciding whether a university’s mission is “predicated upon religious tenets”? Major church autonomy problems here.
www.taxnotes.com/exempt-organ...

Just read David Brennen’s forthcoming Florida Tax Review piece on how SFFA may jeopardize the exempt status of race-conscious charities. Sharp take on the public policy doctrine and risks these orgs face. Thoughtful, timely warning about the future of C3 law.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

🚨 The GOP’s new endowment tax just dropped. It threatens universities by taxing investment income up to 21%, penalizing foreign enrollment, targeting federally funded research, and exempting ideologically favored schools. This is beyond the pale.
🔗 docs.house.gov/meetings/WM/...

TaxProf Blog: Theories Of University Endowment Taxation Lauren Libby (Ph.D. Candidate, Yale), Theories of University Endowment Taxation, 103 Wash. U. L. Rev. __ (2025): University endowment taxation is now one of the most significant issues in U.S. federal...

Excited to share that my paper Congress's recent efforts to tax university endowments is now up on SSRN and TaxProf Blog. Forthcoming in Wash. U. L. Rev. next spring.

Timely, given the moment we’re in.

taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog...

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

#Tax #HigherEd #LawReview