A federal appeals court has ordered the government to reinstate several University of California research grants that were canceled by the Trump administration over diversity, equity, and inclusion guidelines. At the same time, the court allowed a separate batch of grant cancellations to stand.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the split decision in a lawsuit filed by six university researchers. The legal battle began after the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Endowment for the Humanities abruptly pulled the plug on their multi-year funding earlier this year.
The judges divided the affected researchers into two distinct categories to make their ruling. The first group consisted of researchers whose grants were specifically targeted and canceled because of executive orders aimed at eliminating DEI and environmental justice programs.
The court ruled in favor of this group and ordered the agencies to give the funding back. The judges stated that canceling these specific awards likely violated the First Amendment by targeting certain viewpoints. In the written opinion, the court noted that the government cannot make funding decisions “aimed at the suppression of dangerous ideas.”
When the government initially canceled the funding, the agencies sent out standard form letters to the researchers. The NEH told recipients it was “repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda.”
The NSF wrote that the awards were “not in alignment with current NSF priorities” and that they “no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities.” The EPA letters stated the grants were “no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities,” and the agency publicly announced that it had “canceled grants and contracts related to DEI and environmental justice.”
While the DEI-focused researchers won their appeal, the court ruled against a second group of plaintiffs. This group included researchers whose grants were canceled with generic form letters that offered no specific explanation.
For this second group, the appeals court decided that the lower district court did not have the legal authority to hear the case. Because those specific cancellations act more like broken contracts, the judges ruled that the plaintiffs have to take their fight to the United States Court of Federal Claims instead.
As a result of the ruling, researchers targeted over DEI, DEIA, and environmental justice topics will temporarily get their grant money back while the lawsuit moves forward. Meanwhile, the researchers who received standard cancellation letters are left without funding for now and will have to pursue their case in a different court.
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