Washington DC - The Justice Department sued Harvard on Friday demanding its student admissions data, in the Trump administration's latest salvo in its long-running battle with the elite university.

"Harvard has failed to disclose the data we need to ensure that its admissions are free of discrimination," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

In a 2023 ruling, the Supreme Court barred consideration of race in college admissions, and Trump's Justice Department is investigating whether any US schools are discriminating against white applicants.

The Justice Department said the lawsuit "seeks only to compel Harvard to produce documents related to any consideration of race in admissions and does not accuse Harvard of racial discrimination."

"If Harvard has stopped discriminating, it should happily share the data necessary to prove it," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said.

President Donald Trump recently demanded that Harvard pay $1 billion in damages for allegedly failing to sufficiently protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests amid Israel's all-out assault on Gaza.

"We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Just days later, the Pentagon cut all academic ties with Harvard.

Trump has previously sought to cut more than $2.6 billion of federal funding to Harvard, and has moved to block entry of international students – a quarter of its student body.

Those moves have largely been temporarily blocked by the courts.