A group of 18 leading US research universities, including Princeton, MIT, Caltech and Johns Hopkins, asked a federal judge for permission to file legal arguments in support of Harvard University in its high-stakes showdown with the Trump administration over more than $2 billion in frozen grant money.

President Donald Trump has gone after the world’s wealthiest higher education institution in the name of antisemitism, claiming Harvard has failed to protect Jewish students, particularly in the wake of the war in Gaza.