The Trump administration had said it would collect data from colleges to ensure compliance with a Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action in admissions.
The name atop the Justice Department's organizational chart matters less than the presence of a president whose demands for revenge have become so extreme that even his most obsequious appointees have fallen short.
Politically disconnected young men, especially Latinos, helped fuel President Trump's victory, but in this economy, they could move to unconventional candidates like Dan Osborn in Nebraska.
The memorandum calls for paying employees at the Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who have gone without pay during a record-long shutdown.