Overview
- U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin issued a preliminary injunction blocking immediate funding cuts, payment demands and viewpoint‑based conditions across the 10‑campus University of California system.
- The order halts a proposed $1.2 billion penalty on UCLA and the freeze of roughly $584 million in research grants, and it forbids tying grants to measures like restricting curriculum, mandating definitions of sex and gender, or screening international students for “anti‑American” views.
- Lin found the government’s tactics likely constitute “coercive and retaliatory” conduct in violation of the First and Tenth Amendments and noted agencies failed to follow required notice‑and‑hearing procedures for cutting grants.
- The plaintiffs are UC faculty and staff unions rather than the university itself, and sworn declarations described chilled teaching and research on topics perceived as “left” or “woke.”
- The case continues with a potential appeal to the 9th Circuit as separate UC–administration settlement talks proceed, following earlier court‑ordered restorations of NIH, NSF and DOE funds and prior government settlements with Brown and Columbia.