CAN TRUMP CANCEL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS WITH HARVARD?

Trump has announced the government is terminating its contracts with Harvard. Is this legal? In fact, the government has a general right to terminate a contract "for convenience," i.e. just because it doesn't want to continue the contract. This is different from the general rule in private contract law, where a party may terminate a contract only if the other party didn't deliver what it promised -- termination "for default."

A decision by the government to terminate for convenience may be challenged by the contractor (in this case Harvard) in court. A court will only overrule a government decision to terminate a contract for convenience if the contractor can prove the termination was made in bad faith or constitutes an abuse of discretion. This requires demonstrating that the government's action was motivated by a specific intent to harm the contractor, rather than being a legitimate exercise of its right to terminate for convenience.

Harvard is challenging these decisions in court. Think it may be a tough case for Harvard, we’ll see. Guessing Harvard will raise First Amendment issues (Trump suppressing free speech) rather than termination for convenience.