


A federal judge sharply questioned the Trump administration on Monday over its cancellation of $2 billion in federal funds for Harvard University, after the administration cited Harvard’s insufficient efforts to combat antisemitism as the reason for doing so.
Judge Allison Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held a hearing over competing motions for summary judgment from Harvard and the Justice Department, with both sides attempting to win the first legal battle without a trial. Burroughs, an Obama appointee, heard arguments from both sides but appeared skeptical of the DOJ’s arguments for canceling federal funding to the university.
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The judge questioned how Trump administration officials came to the determination that Harvard had not done enough to combat antisemitism, claiming that they had offered “no documentation, no procedure” to “suss out” whether those steps had been taken, according to the Associated Press.
“The consequences of that in terms of constitutional law are staggering,” Burroughs said, per the Associated Press. “I don’t think you can justify a contract action based on impermissible suppression of speech. Where do I have that wrong?”
DOJ lawyer Michael Velchik pushed back by claiming that the case centers on how the federal government decides to spend its research funds, rejecting the university’s argument that the case is about the Trump administration being “anti-Harvard.”
Harvard filed the lawsuit in April when the Trump administration announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in funds to the university after the school rejected a deal to address concerns about antisemitism and other matters on campus. University officials claim that the decision to cut federal funding infringes on the First Amendment and federal law.
Burroughs did not rule on the motions for summary judgment at the hearing but did question the DOJ’s constitutional rationale for cutting Harvard’s federal funds.
“There are limits to what you can terminate, and why, and how,” Burroughs said during the hearing, per Bloomberg. “It seems to be your idea that you can terminate a contract even if the basis for termination is a constitutional violation.”
After the hearing concluded, President Donald Trump trashed Burroughs as a “total disaster” and vowed to keep fighting to strip Harvard of federal funding “until there is victory.”
“The Harvard case was just tried in Massachusetts before an Obama appointed Judge,” Trump said on Truth Social. “She is a TOTAL DISASTER, which I say even before hearing her Ruling. She has systematically taken over the various Harvard cases, and is an automatic ‘loss’ for the People of our Country! Harvard has $52 Billion Dollars sitting in the Bank, and yet they are anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America. Much of this money comes from the U.S.A., all to the detriment of other Schools, Colleges, and Institutions, and we are not going to allow this unfair situation to happen any longer.”
“How did this Trump-hating Judge get these cases?” the president continued. “When she rules against us, we will IMMEDIATELY appeal, and WIN.”
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Burroughs was also assigned to Harvard’s lawsuit over the Trump administration’s attempt to strip the university of its ability to enroll foreign students.
The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, which has no Trump-appointed judges on its bench, has been a popular jurisdiction for lawsuits against the Trump administration, and its judges have issued several injunctions blocking key Trump agenda items.