US blocks Trump attempt to freeze more than $2 billion in Harvard funds

Harvard 'certainly' doesn't have a First Amendment right to force this funding, Trump White House official argues

White House senior policy strategist May Mailman makes the case for 'effective' use of taxpayer funds as Harvard University and the Trump administration face off in court on 'The Will Cain Show.'

A U.S. judge in Boston on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration's attempt to terminate roughly $2.2 billion in federal research funding for Harvard University — marking a major victory for the nation's oldest college, which has sparred with Trump officials for months over federal funding.

In the 84-page decision, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs said the Trump administration "used antisemitism as a smokescreen" to illegally block off the billions in research funding for Harvard University. 

"We must fight against antisemitism, but we equally need to protect our rights, including our right to free speech, and neither goal should nor needs to be sacrificed on the altar of the other," she said in her order.

"Now it is the job of the courts to similarly step up, to act to safeguard academic freedom and freedom of speech as required by the Constitution, and to ensure that important research is not improperly subjected to arbitrary and procedurally infirm grant terminations, even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost," she added.

The decision from Burroughs comes months after lawyers for Havard sued the Trump administration in April over its attempts to freeze more than $2.2 billion in spending. 

Lawyers for both the Trump administration and Harvard had asked Burroughs, an Obama appointee, to issue a summary judgment by early September, a timeline that allowed them to avoid a lengthy trial before the start of the new school year.

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Lawyers for the university had described the Trump administration's attempt to strip the funding as an unlawful and unconstitutional effort to assert federal "control" over elite academic institutions during a hearing earlier this year.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.