Judge blocks Trump bid to strip UC research funds over unfavorable viewpoints

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge Friday blocked the Trump administration from canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding to the University of California, finding that the government has been engaged in a “concerted campaign” to “purge ‘woke,’ ‘left’ and ‘socialist’ viewpoints from our country’s leading universities.”

“The undisputed record demonstrates that defendants have engaged in coercive and retaliatory conduct in violation of the First Amendment and Tenth Amendment. It also shows that they have flouted the requirements of Title VI and IX and cancelled funding in an arbitrary and capricious manner while ignoring required procedural safeguards,” U.S. District Judge Rita Lin said.

In her 76-page order, the Joe Biden appointee noted the administration has not hidden its intention to use investigations into antisemitism and other civil rights violations to cut off funding for universities that don’t subscribe to the president’s ideological agenda.

“It is undisputed that this precise playbook is now being executed at the University of California,” she said.

A coalition of University of California labor groups sued in September, alleging that the Trump administration threatened federal funding to “coerce” the university system into adopting ideological policies that infringe on free speech and academic freedom.

In July, the Justice Department found the University of California, Los Angeles, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to adequately address harassment and abuse reported by Jewish and Israeli students during protests over the war in Gaza.

Soon after, the Trump administration froze $584 million in National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health funding to UCLA without the regulatory steps that would have allowed the university to address the Justice Department’s findings.

While that funding was restored by a preliminary injunction issued by Lin in a separate case, it didn’t end the administration’s feud with the university.

“We are grateful the court intervened today. The Trump-Vance administration attempted to implement a playbook to threaten colleges and universities based on a disdain for, and disagreement with, the content of our institutions’ curriculum, the nature and content of the expressive activity that has taken place at our institutions, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives. This is not just a harmful attempt to stifle speech, it is a betrayal of the Constitution and a dangerous step toward autocracy,” the coalition said in a statement.

A recently unsealed settlement proposal shows the Trump administration wants UCLA to pay nearly $1.2 billion to resolve the Justice Department’s investigation and, among other terms, end race- and ethnicity-based scholarships and bar admission of foreign students deemed “likely to engage in anti-Western, anti-American or antisemitic disruptions.”

Lin cited public comments from Leo Terrell, head of the administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, who claimed UC had been “hijacked by the left” and vowed to pull “every single federal dollar” from UC and similar universities unless they accept the proposed conditions.

Lin also criticized the government’s stance, noting it does not dispute the plaintiffs’ allegations but instead argues the claims are speculative and that UC may ultimately choose not to accept the settlement terms.

“But plaintiffs’ harm is already very real,” Lin wrote. “With every day that passes, UCLA continues to be denied the chance to win new grants, ratcheting up defendants’ pressure campaign.”

Lin also had concerns about the chilling effect the funding threats had on the plaintiff’s free speech, citing declarations from UC faculty and staff stating they had stopped teaching or researching topics they feared were too “left” or “woke.”

“These are classic, predictable First Amendment harms, and exactly what defendants publicly said that they intended,” she said.

The order bars the government from withholding, freezing, threatening or otherwise restricting federal funds to UC based on alleged discrimination unless it follows the required procedures for terminating financial assistance. It also blocks the government from seeking payments, imposing fines or conditioning funding on terms that would violate the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.

Representatives for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement they were “incredibly grateful” the court stepped in “to stop the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful attempt at political extortion and trampling of the First Amendment.”

“In America, there is no king, and we are always happy to help give the president an emphatic reminder of what democracy looks like,” he said.

The plaintiffs include the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the Teamsters, United Auto Workers and several campus-specific faculty associations. They are represented by Democracy Forward and San Francisco-based law firm Altshuler Berzon.

The same judge, in lawsuits brought by UC researchers, has already issued injunctions to prevent federal agencies from terminating grants to UC researchers without any specific explanations or for certain blacklisted topics such as diversity, equity and inclusion.

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