Judge Orders Return Of $500 Million In UCLA Research Funding

A U.S. district judge on Monday directed the Trump administration to reinstate almost $500 million in research awards to UCLA, restoring most of the university’s grants that were placed on hold.

At the end of July, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy froze roughly 800 grants about $584 million in total, after letters from federal agencies cited concerns including antisemitism, alleged unlawful affirmative action practices and “allowing men to participate in women’s sports.”

U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin found that roughly 500 NIH grants should be put back in place because the termination notices failed to include “grant-specific” explanations, her order says. The ruling also reinstates funding across the University of California system from the Departments of Defense, Transportation and Health and Human Services.

Earlier, on Aug. 12, Lin issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily restored about 300 NSF awards; she concluded the NIH actions violated a June order that barred further cancellations. In her writing, she said the UCLA funding freezes “differ from a termination in name only.”

The judge’s decisions are part of a broader lawsuit filed by University of California researchers challenging actions by President Donald Trump and several federal agencies over grants that “have been or will be terminated, denied, suspended, or reduced.” Neeta Thakur, a UC San Francisco scientist whose award was cancelled, is the lead plaintiff whose suit prompted Lin’s earlier injunction.

The UC Office of the President did not reply immediately to requests for comment.

In a separate September ruling, a federal judge found the administration’s move to cut Harvard’s research money unlawful and observed there is “little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism.”

At last week’s hearing, both sides invoked the Supreme Court’s Aug. 21 decision in NIH v. American Public Health Association, which limited district-court review of NIH grant terminations. Jason Altabet, arguing for the Justice Department, said he agreed with that decision and maintained the dispute belongs in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Elizabeth Cabraser told the court the researchers “They are victims of viewpoint discrimination,” and urged judicial relief.

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said the campus is arranging short-term support to keep projects running by creating “bridge funding” for affected research and warned the suspensions have halted “life-saving and life-changing research.”

UC President James Milliken said the system is working with elected officials at both state and federal levels “to evaluate every option” to recover the funding, warning that the federal actions pose a system-wide threat. “This represents one of the gravest threats to the University of California in our 157-year history,” he said.