Judge Blocks Trumps Harvard Funding Cut
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Funding Cuts to Harvard
Boston – A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s decision to cut federal funding to Harvard University, ruling the move violated the First Amendment. The administration had claimed the cuts were justified due to Harvard’s alleged failure to protect Jewish and Israeli students amid campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Harvard, however, denied those claims, accusing the former president of attempting to control the university’s hiring, admissions, and curriculum.
The funding cuts had forced Harvard to impose a hiring freeze and pause key research programs, particularly in public health and medicine, prompting concerns from experts that the interruptions could endanger American lives.
The ruling could influence ongoing settlement discussions reportedly taking place between Harvard and the White House, under which the university might pay a sum acknowledging Trump’s claims in exchange for federal funding restoration. Other universities have reached similar agreements with the administration.
In her ruling, Boston federal judge Allison Burroughs wrote, “The Court vacates and sets aside the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters as violative of the First Amendment. 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 also prevents the administration from using the same reasoning to cut funding in the future.
Albany Law School Professor Ray Brescia told AFP that despite the legal victory, Harvard could still follow Columbia University’s example and negotiate a settlement. “Trump could go back to the negotiating table and offer Harvard a better deal… There has been some talk about a $500 million settlement,” he said. “People settle cases all the time for lots of reasons, even if they think they are 100 percent right.”
Harvard President Alan Garber welcomed the ruling, saying it “validates our arguments in defense of the University’s academic freedom,” while noting that the university will continue to assess the broader implications of the decision.
Judge Burroughs acknowledged that Harvard had admitted there were antisemitism issues on campus, but said the funding cuts were unrelated to addressing the problem. “There is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism,” she wrote. She added that evidence suggested the administration “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston called the ruling biased, saying, “This activist Obama-appointed judge was always going to rule in Harvard’s favor. Harvard does not have a constitutional right to taxpayer dollars… We will immediately move to appeal this egregious decision.”
Supporters of Trump’s actions have argued that Harvard and other elite universities are unaccountable bastions of liberal bias and antisemitism.
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