LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to file an update by Tuesday detailing whether it had restored hundreds of suspended National Science Foundation research grants to UCLA.
If the administration fails to do so, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin ordered it to provide “an explanation of why it was not feasible and a description of the steps that have been taken thus far.”
Lin on Tuesday night ordered the administration to restore the funds to UCLA, saying the freeze of funds violated her June ruling blocking science research grant terminations.
Lin’s evening order was issued hours after a San Francisco court hearing.
The Trump administration froze $584 million in science, medical and other federal grants, citing the university’s alleged discrimination in admissions and failure to “promote a research environment free of antisemitism,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The order issued Tuesday is related only to NSF grants, which make up about 300 of those frozen at UCLA, The Times reported. Hundreds of other suspended grants from the National Institutes of Health and Energy Department are not affected.
The order stemmed from a 2-month-old class-action lawsuit filed by researchers at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley, according to The Times.
UC professors funded by the NSF, Environmental Protection Agency and National Endowment for the Humanities had sued, arguing they faced cuts because their grants appeared in federal keyword searches related to race amid Trump’s push to rid the government of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, The Times reported.
They also argued their funding was removed through the use of generic form letters with no explanation. They argued federal law requires that government officials cite the reasons why money already approved through a competitive applications process was taken away, according to The Times.
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