A federal judge has paused the efforts by the Trump administration to withhold funding from the University of California, part of which includes an investigation into civil right violations of discrimination and antisemitism throughout the school system.
In her ruling on Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco said the government cannot pull funding from UC–at least for the moment:
The Trump administration cannot immediately cut federal funding to the University of California or issue fines against the school system over claims it allows antisemitism or other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled late Friday in a sharply worded decision.
US District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by labor unions and other groups representing UC faculty, students and employees. She said they had provided “overwhelming evidence” that the Trump administration was “engaged in a concerted campaign to purge ‘woke,’ ‘left,’ and ‘socialist’ viewpoints from our country’s leading universities.”
“Agency officials, as well as the President and Vice President, have repeatedly and publicly announced a playbook of initiating civil rights investigations of preeminent universities to justify cutting off federal funding,” Lin’s ruling read, “with the goal of bringing universities to their knees and forcing them to change their ideological tune,” then continued, “It is undisputed that this precise playbook is now being executed at the University of California.”
Judge Lin, who was nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden, stated that the Trump administration’s “coercive and retaliatory conduct [was] in violation of the First Amendment and 10th Amendment” based on “overwhelming evidence” argued by members of UC faculty and labor unions that their free speech was being “chilled.”
“With every day that passes, [the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)] continues to be denied the chance to win new grants,” she added, “ratchetting up Defendants’ pressure campaign. And numerous UC faculty and staff have submitted declarations describing how Defendants’ actions have already chilled speech throughout the UC system.”
In Feb, Leo Terrell, who works as senior counsel in Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s office, and on the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, announced before visiting 10 university campuses–including two in the UC system–that their “mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate Anti-Semitism, particularly in schools.” The visits were just the first step, in other words.
As we wrote back in Aug., Team Trump told UCLA to pay up with “a cool $1 billion settlement”:
That’s right, the administration is seeking a massive settlement from UCLA, accusing the university of civil rights violations related to antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests.
The proposed agreement demands that UCLA pay the settlement in installments, establish a $172 million fund for discrimination victims, and implement significant policy changes, including revisions to policies on protests and race-based scholarships. Additionally, it mandates the elimination of funding for gender-affirming care at UCLA’s hospital and medical facilities.
This came, my colleague Rusty Weiss noted, after the Trump Justice (DOJ) and Education Departments (ED) “suspended over half a billion dollars in funding to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for refusing to negotiate on allegations of antisemitism on their campus.”
AAG Dhillon also commented on how bad things are becoming at UC, after Antifa violence was recently directed at a Turning Point USA event at UC-Berkeley.
The problem isn’t new, unfortunately. RedState has been on top of covering the extensive signs that the First Amendment rights of students on UC campuses are not being applied equally by the university administration to everyone–including in 2023, when the late TPUSA co-founder, Charlie Kirk’s speech was attacked at UC Davis, as my colleague Jennifer Van Laar investigated.
READ MORE: AAG Dhillon Lowers the Boom on UC Berkeley After TPUSA Violence
BREAKING: Antifa Attacks Charlie Kirk’s UC Davis Speech
The Saturday ruling is just the latest in a string of rulings that have not gone the Trump administration’s way in federal courthouses. As our friend Shipwreckedcrew noted in a recent column, it’s unprecedented. see: Federal Judges’ Rapid-Fire Rulings Against Trump Admin Are Unlike Anything Seen Before
There will be more on this case fairly soon, of course, so stay tuned for developments here at RedState.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy RedState’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
