A district judge ordered the Trump administration to restore more than $500 million in federal funding it paused for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin ruled in favor of UCLA for the preliminary injunction after determining the federal government likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act and did not give proper notice or reasoning for the funding pause.
“The district courts are the only forum where the UC researchers could defend their constitutional and statutory rights, and the Ninth Circuit has already determined that they may bring their claims here. This Court will not shut its doors to them,” Lin wrote.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
The decision to restore the full $550 million comes after Rita ruled around $81 million of that money should be restored due to the Trump administration’s decision violating a previous court order.
The administration originally paused the funding after launching an antisemitism investigation against UCLA earlier in the year.
“Currently, a total of approximately $584 million in extramural award funding is suspended and at risk,” said Julio Frenk, chancellor of the university, in an August letter that went out to the community. “If these funds remain suspended, it will be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation.”
The Trump administration was looking for UCLA to pay a $1 billion fine in order for the funding to be restored.
The victory for UCLA comes after Harvard succeeded in getting paused federal funding restored in court.
The legal battles are a change in pace from earlier this year when Columbia and Brown both decided to strike deals with the Trump administration to get their funding restored instead of battling in court.
