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3d ago

Justice Department Appeals Ruling Blocking Trump Freeze of Harvard Research Funds

The case now heads to the First Circuit with the trial court’s order keeping most grant payments in place.

FILE - The gates of Harvard Yard at Harvard University, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Students walk on campus at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., November 19, 2025. REUTERS/Reba Saldanha
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(L-R) President Donald Trump in the White House on December 08, 2025; Harvard University Emblem; Harvard Students for Freedom rally in support of international students at the Harvard University campus in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 27, 2025.

Overview

  • The Justice Department filed a late-Thursday notice appealing to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, covering Harvard’s lawsuit and a related case brought by the AAUP and others.
  • The filing did not lay out legal arguments, which will come in briefs, and Judge Allison D. Burroughs’s ruling continues to govern during the appeal.
  • Following the September decision, the government restored the majority of previously frozen research payments totaling more than $2 billion.
  • Burroughs held that the administration violated Harvard’s First Amendment and due-process rights and wrote that officials used antisemitism as a “smokescreen” for an ideological campaign.
  • Settlement discussions remain ongoing without an agreement, while Harvard reports budget pressures and maintains hiring and spending limits, and several peer institutions have chosen to settle to restore funding.