Federal judge invalidated Trump administration's $2.2 billion freeze on Harvard

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs on Wednesday invalidated a freeze on $2.2 billion in federal grants to the University of Harvardimposed last April by the White House, thus reinstating the funds following a lawsuit by the academic institution and several employee groups against President Donald Trump's administration. In her 84-page ruling, the district judge agreed thatthe measure imposed by the Republican leader represented a violation of constitutional free speech protections.

"Defendants and the President are right to combat antisemitism and to use all lawful means to do so. Harvard was wrong to tolerate hateful behavior for as long as it did. The record here, however, does not reflect that fighting antisemitism was Defendants’ true aim in acting against Harvard and, even if it were, combatting antisemitism cannot be accomplished on the back of the First Amendment," Burroughs wrote.

Anti-Semitism

The White House froze the funding last April after alleging that Harvard was violating civil rights laws because of its inaction in the face of numerous instances of anti-Semitism that have occurred at the university in the wake of Oct. 7, 2023, when the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel, generating a military incursion by the Jewish state as a reaction. In response to Trump, the academic institution immediately sued and became the first university in the country to take on the current administration over the suspension of funding.

While Burroughs criticized Harvard for its lack of forceful actions to combat anti-Semitism on its campus, the federal judge also detailed that the university was currently taking different types of steps to combat it. Burroughs explained in her ruling that her order was necessary to safeguard both First Amendment free speech protections and academic freedom, "even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost."