Judge voids $2.2 billion Harvard funding freeze by Trump administration

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Wed, Sep 3 2025 4:30 PM EDT Updated 2 Min Ago


A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Trump administration’s freeze of $2.2 billion in grant funds for Harvard University over concerns about antisemitism on campus and other issues was illegal.

Judge Allison Burroughs agreed with Harvard’s arguments that the administration imposed the funding freeze in retaliation for the Ivy League university’s refusal to capitulate to demands for reforms that violated First Amendment protections under the Constitution.

Burroughs’ ruling in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts vacates freezing orders affecting Harvard and bars anyone in the Trump administration from enforcing those orders. The administration froze the grants to Harvard on April 14, hours after the university flatly rejected demands that it end its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and screen international students for ideological biases, including antisemitism.

“The fact that Defendants’ swift and sudden decision to terminate funding, ostensibly motivated by antisemitism, was made before they learned anything about antisemitism on campus or what was being done in response, leads the Court to conclude that the sudden focus on antisemitism was, at best ... arbitrary and, at worst, pretextual,” Burroughs wrote in her ruling.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/03/trump-harvard-funding-freeze-court.html

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Link to RULING (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.283718/gov.uscourts.mad.283718.238.0_2.pdf

Article updated.

Previous article -

Published Wed, Sep 3 2025 4:30 PM EDT Updated 2 Min Ago


A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Trump administration's freeze of $2.2 billion in funds for Harvard University was illegal.

Judge Allison Burroughs agreed with Harvard's arguments that the administration imposed the funding freeze in retaliation for the Ivy League university's refusal to capitulate to demands for reforms that violated First Amendment protections under the Constitution.

Burrough's ruling in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts vacates freezing orders affecting Harvard and bars anyone in the Trump administration from enforcing those orders.


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Original article -

Published Wed, Sep 3 2025 4:30 PM EDT


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[azureblue]

1. Trump uses the lega system as a weapon.

Time to have him declared a vexatious litigant.

R

[SunSeeker]

2. Good. Eat shit, Trump. nt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Judge blocks Trump's $2.2 billion Harvard funding freeze

The judge said the Trump administration "used antisemitism as a smokescreen."

Judge blocks Trump's .2 billion Harvard funding freeze
abcnews.go.com/US/judge-blo...

— Ex-GOP Hilary ❌👑 (@hplem.bsky.social) 2025-09-03T21:00:01.940Z

https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-blocks-trumps-22-billion-harvard-funding-freeze/story

A federal judge on Wednesday stopped the Trump administration's attempt to axe $2.2 billion in research funding for Harvard University.

In an 84-page order, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs concluded that the Trump administration "used antisemitism as a smokescreen" to unlawfully block billions in research funding.

"We must fight against antisemitism, but we equally need to protect our rights, including our right to free speech, and neither goal should nor needs to be sacrificed on the altar of the other," Judge Burroughs wrote in her order.

"Now it is the job of the courts to similarly step up, to act to safeguard academic freedom and freedom of speech as required by the Constitution, and to ensure that important research is not improperly subjected to arbitrary and procedurally infirm grant terminations, even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost," she wrote.

[Prairie Gates]

4. UCLA, take heart! Columbia: Take a fucking lesson.

[WiVoter]

8. Well Said

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. MaddowBlog-Federal judge: Trump administration went too far freezing $2.2 billion for Harvard

After the White House targeted the university’s finances, Harvard’s lawyers took the matter to court. So far, the school is winning.

After Harvard resisted ridiculous White House demands, Team Trump retaliated quickly and cut off .2 billion in grants.

As a court unfreezes the funds, Harvard will benefit — but so will we. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-03T21:27:05.907Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/harvard-trump-funding-freeze-rcna228937

Donald Trump’s unusually aggressive campaign against Harvard University has been multifaceted, but at the heart of the offensive is the president taking aim at the school’s finances.....

The university and its lawyers took the matter to court. As NBC News reported, it’s now prevailed at the district court level.

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs granted in part Harvard’s motion with respect to the freeze orders. ‘All freezes and terminations of funding to Harvard made pursuant to the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters on or after April 14, 2025 are vacated and set aside,’ the order said.

While the judge acknowledged the White House’s allegations related to antisemitism at Harvard, she added, “There is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism.”

This is the second time this summer that the administration has lost a court fight with the university: In June, after the White House tried to rescind the school’s ability to host international students, the same federal judge blocked the policy from proceeding.

The case will likely be appealed, but in the meantime, it’s worth emphasizing that the money in question wasn’t allocated as gifts or rewards. At issue are scholarly research grants that were awarded after a competitive process. The federal funds weren’t about helping Harvard, they were about helping us.

To be sure, the university suffered as a result of the White House’s retaliatory tactics, but Harvard’s victory at the district court benefits the American public at least as much as it helps the school.

[Hekate]

6. This is excellent news

[twodogsbarking]

7. Nothing like a swift kick in the jewels.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. Too bad Donny

Go cry some more.

[calimary]

10. Excellent!

Well deserved!