LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must reinstate $500 million in federal grant funds that were previously withheld from the University of California, Los Angeles.
In San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin delivered a preliminary injunction on Monday, asserting that the government likely breached the Administrative Procedure Act. This act mandates specific procedures and justifications for cutting federal funds. The government had informed UCLA in broad letters that numerous grants from different agencies were being paused without providing detailed reasons.
Back in August, UCLA revealed that the Trump administration had halted $584 million in federal grants, citing accusations of civil rights violations, especially concerning antisemitism and affirmative action.
Later that month, Judge Lin restored $81 million in National Science Foundation grants to UCLA, determining that those cuts conflicted with a June preliminary injunction. In that order, she had directed the National Science Foundation to reinstate several grants it had rescinded from the University of California, which runs 10 campuses statewide.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment on Monday’s ruling.
The Trump administration has leveraged federal funding to implement changes at prestigious universities it claims are dominated by liberalism and antisemitism. The administration has also initiated probes into diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, arguing that they disadvantage white and Asian American students.
Two Ivy League schools, Columbia and Brown, negotiated settlements to maintain funding halted by similar accusations from the Trump administration, which argued they failed to adequately address antisemitism on their campuses.
In the case of Harvard, which pushed back with a lawsuit over cuts to its funding, a federal judge in early September ruled the funding freeze amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of the Trump administration’s demands.
The Trump administration had proposed to settle its investigation into UCLA through a $1 billion payment from the institution. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called it an extortion attempt.
UCLA has said that such a large payment would “devastate” the institution.
Monday’s ruling concerns hundreds of medical research grants from the National Institutes of Health that include studies into Parkinson’s disease treatment, cancer recovery, cell regeneration in nerves and other areas that campus leaders argue are pivotal for improving the health of Americans.
___
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
