Biden Appointed Judge Forces Trump Admin To Restore Cut Funds To University

A Biden-appointed federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from terminating federal grants to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The Trump administration has terminated more than $500 million in federal funding from the school, claiming it failed to address antisemitism after allowing a “Jew Exclusion Zone” to persist on campus and is continuing to engage in racially discriminatory admissions practices. The preliminary injunction granted by Judge Rita F. Lin, an appointee of President Joe Biden, said the administration likely did not follow the proper procedure in canceling the grants.

All grants that were terminated by the administration without “a grant-specific explanation for the termination that states the reason for the change to the original award decision and considers the reliance interests at stake” were vacated by the court. The funding now must be restored and the grants are to be reinstated.

The class action lawsuit was brought in June by several researchers in the University of California (UC) system who claimed the cancellations were unconstitutional for violating free speech and due process protections and failing to follow the proper procedure, including by bypassing Congress.

Students, faculty and staff within the UC system recently brought a separate lawsuit