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 against the administration over the funding cuts, saying the federal government is politically “targeting” higher education institutions for not aligning with its conservative agenda.

In August, the Trump administration proposed a $1.2 billion settlement deal to UCLA, which the school said would “completely devastate” it.

UCLA in July agreed to pay nearly $6.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by students and a professor after the school allowed a portion of campus to be taken over by pro-Palestine protesters who prohibited Jewish students from entering unless they denounced Israel. Demonstrations at the school following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in several arrests and dozens of injuries after protesters violently clashed with police.

The university is also under fire by the administration for its publicized method of skirting the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action policies. UCLA proudly boasted its method of outreach toward nonwhite students and “holistic” application review process that allows the school to reach its desired ratio of students.

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