Federal judge finds DOGE's elimination of humanities grants "unlawful"

[LetMyPeopleVote]

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration's mass elimination of humanities grants to three of the nation's major scholarly groups was "unlawful" and "unconstitutional."

Link to tweet

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/neh-grant-termination-unlawful-doge/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=939599086

Washington — A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration's mass elimination of humanities grants to three of the nation's major scholarly groups was "unlawful" and "unconstitutional."

In April 2025, the Department of Government and Efficiency, or DOGE, terminated thousands of grants previously approved by Congress from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Among the grant recipients were the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association of America.

The groups sued in May 2025 to reverse the actions, arguing that the dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities was "unlawful many times over" because the executive branch "has no constitutional authority to block, amend, subvert, or delay spending appropriations based on the president's own policy preferences."

In Thursday's ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon wrote that the termination of grants to the groups was "in violation of the First Amendment, in violation of the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment, and without statutory authority." McMahon said that DOGE officials lacked the statutory authority to carry out the grant terminations, and prohibited the administration from enforcing the terminations.

[yellow dahlia]

1. The norms of the Judicial system have not been completely obliterated.

There are some judges standing up for the Constitution and honoring their oaths.