Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Canceled Harvard’s Funds

MARY CHASTAIN SEP 3, 2025 5:13 PM

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs invalidated President Donald Trump’s freezing $2.2 billion in research grants for Harvard.

Short story: Burroughs said Trump’s administration used antisemitism to target Harvard.

“In fact, a review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that Defendants used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities, and did so in a way that runs afoul of the APA, the First Amendment and Title VI,” wrote Burroughs. “Further, their actions have jeopardized decades of research and the welfare of all those who could stand to benefit from that research, as well as reflect a disregard for the rights protected by the Constitution and federal statutes.”

Trump froze the funding in April after Harvard refused to comply with a bunch of demands:

• Governance and leadership reforms
• Merit-based hiring reform
• Merit-based admissions reform
• International admissions reform
• Viewpoint diversity in admissions and hiring
• Reforming programs with egregious records of antisemitism or other biases
• Discontinuation of DEI
• Student discipline reform and accountability
• Whistleblower reporting and protections
• Transparency and monitoring

Harvard quickly filed a lawsuit against the administration.

“Defendants’ actions threaten Harvard’s academic independence and place at risk critical lifesaving and pathbreaking research that occurs on its campus,” according to the lawsuit. “And they are part of a broader effort by the Government to punish Harvard for protecting its constitutional rights.”

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY