Blocking Trump's Harvard Funding Freeze, Judge Says Courts Must Safeguard Freedom of Speech

A Boston-based US district judge on Wednesday ruled against President Donald Trump's funding attack on Harvard University, which froze more than $2 billion in federal grants to the Ivy League institution.

When Harvard sued over the freeze in April, the university's president, Alan Garber, directly addressed the Trump administration's claims that it was responding to the school's handling of discrimination against Jewish people. Garber said that "as a Jew and as an American, I know very well that there are valid concerns about rising antisemitism," and pledged to "fight hate with the urgency it demands as we fully comply with our obligations under the law."

US District Judge Allison Burroughs, who is also Jewish, wrote in her 84-page opinion on Wednesday that "as pertains to this case, it is important to recognize and remember that if speech can be curtailed in the name of the Jewish people today, then just as easily the speech of the Jews (and anyone else) can be curtailed when the political winds change direction."

"Defendants and the president are right to combat antisemitism and to use all lawful means to do so. Harvard was wrong to tolerate hateful behavior for as long as it did," wrote Burroughs, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama. "The record here, however, does not reflect that fighting antisemitism was defendants' true aim in acting against Harvard and, even if it were, combating antisemitism cannot be accomplished on the back of the First Amendment."

"We must fight against antisemitism, but we equally need to protect our rights, including our right to free speech, and neither goal should nor needs to be sacrificed on the altar of the other," she asserted. "Harvard is currently, even if belatedly, taking steps it needs to take to combat antisemitism and seems willing to do even more if need be."

The judge concluded that "now it is the job of the courts to similarly step up, to act to safeguard academic freedom and freedom of speech as required by the Constitution, and to ensure that important research is not improperly subjected to arbitrary and procedurally infirm grant terminations, even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost."

Burroughs is the same judge who previously ruled against the Trump administration's ban on international students at Harvard. As Harvard begins a new academic year, Abdullah Shahid Sial, a junior who is co-president of the undergraduate student body, told CNN this week that "I do think there's a big, big spike in how much people feel scared."

In a statement to Reuters on Wednesday, White House spokesperson Liz Huston called Burroughs an "activist Obama-appointed judge" and said that Harvard "does not have a constitutional right to taxpayer dollars and remains ineligible for grants in the future."

"We will immediately move to appeal this egregious decision, and we are confident we will ultimately prevail in our efforts to hold Harvard accountable," she added.

The latest court decision comes after The New York Times reported in July that Harvard was open to spending hundreds of millions of dollars to settle its battle with the administration—as other schools have—but also aimed to protect its independence.

As the newspaper noted Wednesday:

Although the university and the administration have continued to move toward a potential agreement, they have not reached a settlement. President Trump, who has taken a special interest in the financial terms of pacts his administration has reached with universities, said last week that he wanted "nothing less than $500 million from Harvard."

"They've been very bad," Mr. Trump told the education secretary, Linda McMahon, during a televised Cabinet meeting. "Don't negotiate."

The Times added that "Harvard officials had anticipated that a favorable decision from the judge could help the university's approach to the negotiations" by boosting pressure on the government not to keep fighting until they reach the US Supreme Court and allowing the school to present any deal as a win against the Trump administration.

This article has been updated with a statement from the White House.