Overview

• Senior U.S. District Judge William E. Smith on Sept. 19 set aside the NEA’s policy that weighed whether projects “promote gender ideology” in grant reviews.
• The ruling holds the policy violates the First Amendment, exceeds the NEA’s statutory mandate, and is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.
• The court barred the government from disfavoring applicants on that basis in future policies, reinforcing that NEA grants fund private speech rather than government messaging.
• The case was brought in March by the ACLU for Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive, and Theatre Communications Group.
• The decision follows months of disruptions that included mass grant rescissions and the cancellation of the Challenge America program, and a government appeal remains possible.