Federal judge finds DOGE's elimination of humanities grants "unlawful"
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."
TL;DR
- A federal judge ruled the Trump administration's elimination of humanities grants "unlawful" and "unconstitutional."
- The Department of Government and Efficiency (DOGE) terminated thousands of grants approved by Congress.
- Grant recipients included the American Council of Learned Societies, American Historical Association, and Modern Language Association of America.
- The groups sued, arguing the executive branch has no authority to block spending based on policy preferences.
- The ruling stated the terminations violated the First and Fifth Amendments and lacked statutory authority.
- DOGE staff used ChatGPT to generate rationales for grant terminations based on diversity, equity, and inclusion grounds.
- The judge noted the DOGE staff leading the effort had limited experience in the humanities.