Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

The Trump administration is nationally rescinding guidance that would have required international students to leave the United States if their coursework was held entirely online this upcoming fall during the COVID-19 pandemic, after the policy was heavily challenged in several federal courts.

The announcement was made at the start of a hearing Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, where attorneys with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr were expected to argue on behalf of officials at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the policy.

Instead, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs opened the hearing by announcing that attorneys from both sides had come to agreement to rescind that guidance on a national level, which mooted the TRO and preliminary injunction requests.

The guidance, announced last Monday, was challenged in federal court almost immediately, first with Harvard and MIT's lawsuit in Massachusetts. 

Johns Hopkins University last week filed a similar complaint in Washington, D.C.'s federal trial court with lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. The University of California system filed their own suit Friday with Crowell & Moring attorneys, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher lawyers filed a similar complaint Monday on behalf of 20 colleges and universities on the West Coast.

Eighteen attorneys general also joined the mounting legal fights with a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on Monday.

Burroughs said Tuesday that the agreement means a more flexible policy for international students instated this spring will return, and that she will keep the Harvard and MIT case open.

The guidance was met with widespread backlash from higher education institutions and other industries. Colleges and universities are grappling with how to hold class in the fall due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with some saying they'll offer a hybrid of in-person and online coursework and others choosing to offer only remote classes.

At least some of the lawsuits alleged the policy was an attempt to force campuses to remain open in the fall, despite the lack of information about how safe it would be for students, faculty and other employees due to the pandemic.