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DOGE cuts struck down
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration’s mass elimination of humanities grants was “unlawful” and “unconstitutional,” finding the Department of Government and Efficiency, or DOGE, terminated thousands of grants previously approved by Congress from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration's mass elimination of humanities grants was "unlawful" and "unconstitutional."”
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon wrote that the termination of grants to the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association of America was “in violation of the First Amendment, in violation of the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment, and without statutory authority.”
The ruling concerned more than 1,400 grants worth more than $100 million that were terminated in April 2025, and McMahon said DOGE lacked the legal authority to carry out the grant terminations.
McMahon also criticized the process used to identify which grants to cancel, including DOGE staff’s reported use of ChatGPT to help come up with rationales for why the grants should be terminated on diversity, equity and inclusion-related grounds.
In the same decision, McMahon prohibited the administration from enforcing the terminations and the ruling was consolidated with another lawsuit from The Authors Guild.
Viewpoint discrimination and AI
McMahon said DOGE’s approach amounted to “blatant viewpoint discrimination,” writing that “The Government engaged in blatant viewpoint discrimination,” and she said the administration violated constitutional protections for free speech and equal treatment under the law.
The decision described how DOGE staff acknowledged they did not examine any applications or underlying materials when determining which grants to flag, and that they used ChatGPT to help come up with rationales for why the grants should be terminated on diversity, equity and inclusion-related grounds.
McMahon also wrote that DOGE’s review did not conform to NEH’s ordinary grant-review process, and she said “There can be no serious dispute that the review process implemented by DOGE did not conform to, or even resemble, NEH’s ordinary grant-review process.”
In one example discussed in the ruling, McMahon said officials, using the AI platform, labeled as DEI an anthology titled “In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union.”
McMahon further rejected the idea that any viewpoint classification was merely ChatGPT’s doing, writing “ChatGPT was the Government’s chosen instrument for purposes of this project,” and she said DOGE’s use of AI neither excused unconstitutional conduct nor gave the government carte blanche.
What’s at stake next
The ruling could unlock restored grants and force government agencies to revisit automated screening practices, as lawyers consider potential appeals after the court found DOGE had no authority to halt funding.
“The ruling could unlock restored grants and force government agencies to revisit automated screening practices”
The decision also came with a broader injunction effect, with McMahon permanently barring the administration from terminating the grants and ordering that the government provide “written notice” of her decision to all affected grant recipients whose awards were terminated as part of the mass termination.
In Manhattan, the court’s scrutiny of DOGE’s process and authority fed into reactions from plaintiffs and related organizations, including Sarah Weicksel, executive director of the American Historical Association, who said the ruling was “an important achievement in our effort to restore the NEH’s ability to fulfill its vital mission.”
Yinka Ezekiel Onayemi, an attorney for the Authors Guild, called the cancellations “a direct assault on constitutional free speech and equal protection,” while the Associated Press reported that McMahon permanently barred the administration and criticized DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence in nixing the funding.
Beyond the courtroom, the Los Angeles Times reported that state humanities councils had been left with less money to plan America250 celebrations for the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, after NEH canceled its grants to the councils, and Illinois Humanities executive director Gabrielle Lyon said, “No puedo imaginar cómo se supone que debemos realizar una conmemoración nacional que sea importante para las personas donde viven sin que se apoyen las humanidades”.
