A federal judge delivered a sharp rebuke Thursday to the Trump administration’s cancellation of hundreds of humanities grants, declaring the actions unconstitutional and discriminatory.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that last April’s elimination of more than 1,400 grants — worth over $100 million in congressional funding to scholars, writers, research institutions and humanities organizations — violated constitutional protections.
The grant cancellations were conducted as part of cost-reduction efforts overseen by billionaire Elon Musk through the Department of Government Efficiency.
“The Government engaged in blatant viewpoint discrimination,” McMahon stated in her ruling, criticizing what the Trump administration described as efforts to eliminate diversity programs.
According to the judge’s decision, the cancellations breached both First Amendment free speech protections and Fifth Amendment equal protection guarantees. The court also determined that DOGE lacked legal standing to cancel the grants.
“What mattered to DOGE was not whether a grant lacked scholarly merit, failed to comply with its terms, or fell outside NEH’s (National Endowment for the Humanities) statutory purposes. What mattered was that the grant concerned a ‘minority group’,” McMahon wrote in her opinion.
“DOGE swept in race and ethnicity – including grants concerning Black, Asian, Latino, and Indigenous communities – as well as national origin and immigration status; religion and religious identity (including Jewish, Christian, and Muslim subjects); sex; and sexual orientation, as criteria for grant termination.”
The judge additionally noted that DOGE personnel’s reliance on the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT to justify certain grant terminations did not excuse the government’s actions.
“The government cannot escape liability for DOGE’s work by scapegoating ChatGPT,” McMahon stated.
Civil rights organizations have expressed alarm over Trump’s targeting of educational and cultural institutions, diversity programs, and historical sites and museums, warning these actions could reverse decades of social advancement and diminish recognition of important periods in American history.
Trump has claimed that numerous cultural, arts and educational organizations serve as strongholds of liberal and “anti-American” ideologies that fail to present U.S. history favorably.
The former president has threatened to eliminate federal funding for institutions over pro-Palestinian demonstrations protesting U.S. ally Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, transgender policies, climate programs and diversity initiatives.
His criticism has encompassed prestigious universities, the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center, as well as media organizations such as National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.
