A federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze more than $2 billion of Harvard University’s funding, holding that the government violated the First Amendment through its efforts to combat anti-Semitism.
In a ruling on Sept. 3, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs cast doubt on the administration’s motives in freezing the funding, suggesting that the government retaliated over the university’s refusal to comply with multiple demands the Justice Department made after an investigation into anti-Semitism on campus.
“The government-initiated onslaught against Harvard was much more about promoting a governmental orthodoxy in violation of the First Amendment than about anything else, including fighting antisemitism,” she wrote.
She added that “there is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism.” Reviewing the evidence, she said, indicated that the administration used anti-Semitism as a “smokescreen.”
Her decision removes the administration’s orders freezing vast amounts of federal money flowing to Harvard and prohibits it from issuing additional funding freezes.
White House spokesperson Liz Huston said the administration will appeal the ruling, which she said was egregious.
“To any fair-minded observer, it is clear that Harvard University failed to protect their students from harassment and allowed discrimination to plague their campus for years. Harvard does not have a constitutional right to taxpayer dollars and remains ineligible for grants in the future,” she said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.
In April, the administration made several demands that Burroughs said included changes to activities protected by the First Amendment. These protected rights include a school’s ability to manage its academic community and evaluate teaching without government interference.
Her ruling followed a hearing in July where the Justice Department argued that the government was well within its rights to terminate funding streams to Harvard. The university, the department also said, brought the case in a federal district court when it should have brought it in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which typically handles contract-related disputes.
Tension inside and outside the courthouse seemed to underscore the high stakes alleged by both sides. In his rebuttal, Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik, a Harvard alumnus, got choked up while discussing the importance of the university and the concern about anti-Semitism on campus.
Velchik said that the government would have canceled Harvard’s contracts regardless of how the university responded to its demands.
In her Sept. 3 opinion, Burroughs doubted that the funding freeze was unrelated to Harvard’s refusal to comply with the government’s demands. The judge said President Donald Trump’s posts on social media evinced an interest in punishing Harvard for its views rather than for anti-Semitism.
Harvard President Alan Garber responded to the ruling in a statement posted to the university’s website.
“The ruling affirms Harvard’s First Amendment and procedural rights, and validates our arguments in defense of the University’s academic freedom, critical scientific research, and the core principles of American higher education,” he said.
“Even as we acknowledge the important principles affirmed in today’s ruling, we will continue to assess the implications of the opinion, monitor further legal developments, and be mindful of the changing landscape in which we seek to fulfill our mission.”
Emel Akan contributed to this report.
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