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UCLA faculty gets big win in suit against Tr-mp's university attacks [View all]
Posted in Civil Liberties.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/11686293
Reposted here for visibility.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/11/ucla-faculty-gets-big-win-in-suit-against-trumps-university-attacks/
On Friday, a US District Court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the United States government from halting federal funding at UCLA or any other school in the University of California system. The ruling came in response to a suit filed by groups representing the faculty at these schools challenging the Trump administration’s attempts to force UCLA into a deal that would substantially revise instruction and policy.
The court’s decision lays out how the Trump administration’s attacks on universities follow a standard plan: use accusations of antisemitism to justify an immediate cut to funding, then use the loss of money to compel an agreement that would result in revisions to university instruction and management. The court finds that this plan was deficient on multiple grounds, violating legal procedures for cutting funding to an illegal attempt and suppressing the First Amendment rights of faculty.
The result is a reprieve for the entire University of California system, as well as a clear pathway for any universities to fight back against the Trump administration’s attacks on research and education.
First Amendment violations
Links below are to court documents. (PDF) 576KB and 117KB
The Judge overseeing this case, Rita Lin, issued separate documents describing the reasoning behind her decision and the sanctions she has placed on the Trump administration. In the first, she lays out the argument that the threats facing the UC system, and most notably UCLA, are part of a scripted campaign deployed against many other universities, one that proceeds through several steps. The Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is central to this effort, which starts with the opening of a civil rights investigation against a university that was the site of anti-Israel protests during the conflict in Gaza.
The court’s decision lays out how the Trump administration’s attacks on universities follow a standard plan: use accusations of antisemitism to justify an immediate cut to funding, then use the loss of money to compel an agreement that would result in revisions to university instruction and management. The court finds that this plan was deficient on multiple grounds, violating legal procedures for cutting funding to an illegal attempt and suppressing the First Amendment rights of faculty.
The result is a reprieve for the entire University of California system, as well as a clear pathway for any universities to fight back against the Trump administration’s attacks on research and education.
First Amendment violations
Links below are to court documents. (PDF) 576KB and 117KB
The Judge overseeing this case, Rita Lin, issued separate documents describing the reasoning behind her decision and the sanctions she has placed on the Trump administration. In the first, she lays out the argument that the threats facing the UC system, and most notably UCLA, are part of a scripted campaign deployed against many other universities, one that proceeds through several steps. The Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is central to this effort, which starts with the opening of a civil rights investigation against a university that was the site of anti-Israel protests during the conflict in Gaza.
more at the link.
Cool stuff: from the sanctions document.
For the reasons set forth in the Court’s accompanying opinion, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendants Donald J. Trump, in his official capacity as President of the United States, U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), Department of Education (“ED”), National Science Foundation (“NSF”), Department of Energy (“DOE”), Department of Defense (“DOD”), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”), U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), Department of Commerce (“Commerce”), Department of the Interior (“Interior”), Department of State (“State”), and Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), and their agency heads or officials named in their official capacities as Defendants in this lawsuit; their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys; and all persons acting by, through, under, or in concert with these Defendants (collectively, “Defendants”), are preliminarily enjoined as follows:
1. Defendants are ENJOINED and/or STAYED from refusing to grant, non-renewing, withholding, freezing, suspending, terminating, conditioning, or otherwise restricting use of federal funds, or threatening to do so, to the University of California (“UC”), defined to include any of its campuses, laboratories, and affiliated medical centers, based on alleged discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, or sex, until after full compliance with all of the required steps, consistent with all procedural and substantive requirements governing the termination of federal financial assistance under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §2000d et seq., and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §1681 et seq., and all procedural and substantive requirements governing the termination of federal financial assistance under the applicable Title VI and Title IX implementing regulations, and all procedural and substantive requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§551-559, 701-706 (“APA”), including but not limited to the following: (very long list. -- ten items)
2. Defendants are ENJOINED and/or STAYED from seeking payments of or imposing penalties or fines or any other monies from the UC or any of its campuses or affiliated medical centers in connection with any civil rights investigation under Title VI, VII, or IX or violations of Title VI, VII, and IX.
3. Defendants are ENJOINED and/or STAYED from refusing to grant, non-renewing, withholding, freezing, suspending, terminating, conditioning, or otherwise restricting use of federal funds to the UC, or threatening to do so, to coerce the UC in violation of the First Amendment or Tenth Amendment.
4. Defendants are ENJOINED and/or STAYED from conditioning the grant or continuance of federal funding on the UC’s agreement to any measures that would violate the rights of Plaintiffs’ members under the First Amendment.
5. The “suspensions” (or terminations) of National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Department of Energy (DOE) research grants to UCLA researchers that took place on or around July 30, 2025, and the associated blanket policy of denying any future grants to UCLA, are hereby VACATED and set aside and/or STAYED, and Defendants are ENJOINED and/or STAYED from implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving any force or effect to them. Any future terminations of federal funding by Defendants meeting the above criteria are ENJOINED, VACATED, and/or STAYED upon issuance.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: November 14, 2025 ____________________________
The Honorable Rita F. Lin
United States District Court Judge
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