Trump's Trials - Judge rules Trump administration illegally froze billions in Harvard funds

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

A federal judge found the Trump administration acted illegally when it froze more than $2.2 billion in research funding for Harvard University. The White House says it will appeal the decision.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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Listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast today. I'm Mnandez. And I'm Michelle Martin, a federal judge. in Boston handed Harvard University a big win on Wednesday. The judge says the Trump administration unlawfully froze more than $2 billion in research funding to the school. The administration put the freeze in place in what it says was a response to allegations of anti-Semitism on campus, which prompted Harvard to sue. NPR education correspondent Corey Turner has been looking over the judge's 84-page ruling, and it's with us now to tell us more about it. Corey, good morning.

Good morning, Michelle. So what can you tell us about how the funding freeze is, according to the judge, ran a foul old. the law. Yeah, Judge Allison Burroughs offered really not one argument, but several. For starters, she pointed out that the research being defunded at Harvard included studies of Alzheimer's, cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease, heart disease, autism. There was even a study to help emergency room doctors better serve suicidal veterans, none of which, the judge said, had any clear connection to anti-Semitism on campus. Burroughs also said the freeze violated Harvard's First Amendment rights, and that's because at the same time the Trump administration claimed it was

doing this to fight anti-Semitism, President Trump was excoriating Harvard more broadly on truth social for being a, quote, liberal mess, and for fighting back against the administration. So the judge said, she found it, quote, difficult to conclude anything other than that the administration used anti-Semitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault. You know, Corey, it's interesting. Harvard has said that anti-Semitism had become a problem on campus. Does the judge speak to that? Yeah, interruling Judge Burroughs was kind of hard on Harvard, saying, quote, it had been plagued by anti-Semitism in recent years and could and should have done a better job of dealing with the issue.

But she said Harvard was already taking steps to do just that, when the Trump administration froze its funding. In fact, this was actually another way the administration, she said, had run a foul of federal law. It had accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark law that protects Americans from discrimination based on race, color, and national origin. But Title VI requires a very clear step-by-step process for the government to follow to bring a school into compliance. And the judge said, jumping straight to this huge funding freeze, essentially skipped most of those steps. So what happens now?

Well, White House spokesperson Liz Houston said, quote, we will immediately move to appeal this egregious decision, and we're confident we will ultimately prevail. Meanwhile, Harvard President Alan Garber's statement was notably subdued, pledging to, quote, continue to assess the implications of the opinion, monitor further legal developments and be mindful of the changing landscape. And I think, Michelle, that's a nod to the fact that Harvard and the White House have been battling on multiple fronts here, while also talking behind the scenes about a potential settlement agreement, like the ones already signed by Columbia and Brown University. It's hard to know what effect this ruling is ultimately going to have, but I think it's pretty clear it strengthens Harvard's bargaining position.

That is NPR education correspondent Cory Turner. Corey, thank you. You're welcome, Michelle. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.