Federal judge finds DOGE's elimination of humanities grants "unlawful"
CBS News • • nation
Key Points:
- A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's mass termination of humanities grants to major scholarly groups was unlawful and unconstitutional, violating the First and Fifth Amendments.
- The Department of Government and Efficiency (DOGE) had ended thousands of National Endowment for the Humanities grants in April 2025, targeting organizations like the American Council of Learned Societies and the American Historical Association.
- The judge found DOGE officials lacked statutory authority for the terminations and barred the administration from enforcing them, emphasizing that the executive branch cannot unilaterally block or alter congressional spending appropriations.
- The ruling highlighted that DOGE staff did not review grant applications properly and relied on ChatGPT to generate justifications related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, despite lacking experience in humanities fields.
- The decision was consolidated with a related lawsuit from The Authors Guild, whose members were also affected by the grant cancellations.
