Judge orders Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard.

U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs granted in part Harvard’s motion with respect to the freeze orders.

“All freezes and terminations of funding to Harvard made pursuant to the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters on or after April 14, 2025 are vacated and set aside,” the order said.

The 84-page order conceded that Harvard has been “plagued by antisemitism” in recent years, and should “have done a better job of dealing with the issue,” but noted “there is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism.”

“In fact, a review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that Defendants used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities, and did so in a way that runs afoul of the APA, the First Amendment and Title VI,” Burroughs wrote.

The ruling comes after Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after it announced in April it was freezing more than $2 billion in grants to the school because Harvard refused to comply with the administration’s demands that included auditing viewpoints of the student body.