On June 4th, 2025, a group of six University of California faculty and other researchers filed a class action lawsuit in federal court against the Trump Administration on behalf of all UC researchers whose previously approved agency grants were terminated pursuant to Executive Orders or other directives of President Trump, as implemented through the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”).
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that these grant terminations violate the constitutional principle of separation of powers, the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, and the Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process, as well as statutes that govern agencies’ missions and grantmaking and the Administrative Procedure Act. As detailed in the Complaint, these abrupt cancellations of already awarded grants “ignored or contradicted the purposes for which Congress created the granting agencies and appropriated funds, and dispensed with the regular procedures and due process afforded grantees under the Administrative Procedure Act, in implementing the Trump Administration’s political ‘cost-cutting’ agenda and ideological purity campaign.”
Read a copy of the Press Release on the filing of the lawsuit.
Ninth Circuit Appeal Update / District Court Update
On December 23, 2025, the Ninth Circuit issued an Amended Order, reversing a limited part of what it decided in August 2025 in upholding the federal district court’s determination that the Trump administration violated the law in terminating grants to faculty and researchers at the University of California. The Ninth Circuit again found that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment in cutting off grants based on the perceived viewpoints of the research and the district court’s order reinstating these grants to members of the Equity Termination Class remains in effect.
The Ninth Circuit, however, changed its mind and said that another set of claims under the federal Administrative Procedures Act likely must go to the Court of Federal Claims rather than the federal district court. The Ninth Circuit thus stayed the district court’s order reinstating grants to the Form Termination Class. At this point, this applies only to grants from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Endowment of the Humanities that are not also covered by the Equity Termination Class.
Plaintiffs are disappointed and disagree with this ruling, believing it is based on a misreading of a Supreme Court ruling. Plaintiffs have moved for reconsideration or reconsideration en banc. The Ninth Circuit has yet to rule on the request.
Meanwhile, the parties have appeared before the district court and agreed to vacate current deadlines given the uncertainty of the appeal, and to ultimately move toward summary judgment on constitutional claims, including claims which may not yet have been ruled on. The parties also agreed that the Ninth Circuit’s Amended Order does not affect the Plaintiffs’ recently filed Equal Protection claims against the Department of Energy, so the district court can rule now on Plaintiffs’ fully brief Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Provisional Class Certification.
Previous Updates:
On June 23, 2025, the court provisionally certified two classes and entered a preliminary injunction. The first class is the “Equity Termination Class,” which essentially encompasses anyone whose grants were terminated for DEI reasons. Second is the “Form Termination Class,” which includes anyone whose grants were terminated “by means of a form termination notice that does not provide a grant-specific explanation for the termination that states the reason for the change to the original award decision and considers the reliance interests at stake.”
The preliminary injunction orders the government to reinstate all grants to UC researchers included in either class that were terminated by EPA, NSF, and NEH (the agencies that terminated the named plaintiffs’ grants). By June 30, the government must report on the steps it is taking to comply with the injunction. The parties will appear before the court for a case management conference on July 2 at 11:00am.
You can find the court’s order assessing the claims and certifying the class here, and the preliminary injunction here.
Update: On September 22, 2025, upon Plaintiff’s motion to add additional government agencies as defendants, the court provisionally certified additional classes and entered a second preliminary injunction. Judge Lin certified a second “Form Termination Class,” which includes researchers who received grants from the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, and the National Institutes of Health. Judge Lin certified a second “Equity Termination Class,” which includes researchers who received grants from the Department of Transportation.
Ninth Circuit Appeal Update: In July, the government appealed Judge Lin’s preliminary injunction. The government also sought to stay the proceedings in the district court while the appeal proceeded in the Ninth Circuit. On August 21, the Ninth Circuit denied the government’s motion for a stay. The government is seeking rehearing or rehearing en banc of that decision. The Ninth Circuit will hear argument as to the merits of the preliminary injunction at a virtual hearing on Friday, November 14, at 9:00am PST. The argument will be livestreamed (look for San Francisco Courtroom 2): https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/live-oral-arguments/
Update: On November 24, 2025, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Leave to File a Third Amended Complaint and a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction and Provisional Class Certification as to the Department of Energy. The Third Amended Complaint and associated motions concern the Department of Energy’s form terminations of several grants, including the largest termination to date: cancellation of a $1.2 billion award to the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) program. The Motions propose a Third Form Termination class, as all DOE grants were once again terminated by form letter. The Motions also propose a new Equal Protection Termination Class, because the grant terminations only occurred in states where a majority of the citizens voted for the opposition political party. After additional briefing, a hearing on these Motions will be held on December 18, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. PST.