A federal judge on Monday issued a decisive order, compelling the National Institutes of Health to release hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding previously frozen from the University of California, Los Angeles. The funds had been withheld due to allegations of civil rights violations at the university.
This preliminary injunction, handed down by Judge Rita F. Lin of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, offers temporary relief as a larger lawsuit progresses. The legal challenge addresses widespread grant terminations across the entire University of California system. The initial lawsuit, filed in June, contested grants cut by various federal agencies, including the NIH, earlier that spring. More dramatically, on July 31st, the NIH unilaterally suspended approximately 500 additional grants specifically allocated to UCLA, totaling a staggering $518 million in unspent research funds, according to the crowdsourced online database, Grant Witness.
This widespread funding freeze, which also impacted grants from the National Science Foundation and the Energy Department, was part of a larger initiative by the Trump administration. This initiative aimed to counteract what it termed “woke” ideology prevalent on college campuses.
In a communication sent to UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk, the NIH explicitly stated that the grant suspensions were punitive measures. They cited concerns over antisemitism, race-based admissions policies, and the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports at the university. Notably, these suspended grants were not directly tied to research on these specific issues. The NIH’s letter mandated an indefinite suspension of funds until UCLA achieved “compliance” with their demands.
Judge Lin’s latest directive specifically compels the NIH to restore funding for any University of California grants, including those vital to UCLA researchers, that were abruptly terminated without providing a “grant-specific explanation” for the change.
This recent action builds upon a prior order issued by Judge Lin in August, which similarly mandated the National Science Foundation to reinstate approximately $90 million in suspended UCLA grants. At that time, Judge Lin unequivocally declared that indefinite grant suspensions are, in essence, “terminations by another name.”
Combined, these two rulings effectively reinstate almost all of the significant research grants that were initially suspended at UCLA back in July.
Beyond UCLA, this fresh preliminary injunction extends its reach to other institutions within the University of California system. It specifically orders the restoration of funding that had been cut this year by both the Defense Department and the Transportation Department, marking a broader win for academic research.