Court hearing to begin in Harvard's lawsuit against Trump admin over federal funding freeze

A court hearing is set to begin Monday in Harvard University's lawsuit against the Trump administration over its freeze of the institution's federal funding.

The lawyers representing Harvard in U.S. District Court in Boston will argue that the administration's freeze of more than $2 billion in grants and contracts is illegal and should be reversed, NPR reported.

They wrote in court filings that the federal funding cuts threaten vital research in medicine, science, and technology. The lawsuit's goal is to block the Trump administration from withholding federal funding "as leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard."

The administration has said that Harvard's federal funding was frozen because the Ivy League school violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to address antisemitism on campus.

The hearing is expected to last a day before U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, from whom Harvard is requesting a summary judgment to end the issue quickly. However, it is unclear when Burroughs might rule on the summary judgment request.

Harvard is currently the only school in court, while dozens of others have also had their millions in federal grants frozen by the Trump administration.

The university's attorneys argue that the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not following proper procedure when dealing with an alleged violation of federal civil rights law.

Also, Harvard argues that there is no connection between alleged antisemitism and shutting down federal funding for reeearch.

"The Government has not – and cannot – identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America's position as a global leader in innovation," according to Harvard's complaint.

The lawsuit also claims that the federal government is violating the First Amendment, which, it says, "does not permit the Government to 'interfere with private actors' speech to advance its own vision of ideological balance.'"

Harvard says that the administration is interfering with its academic freedom by telling the university how to hire, how to admit students, and demanding access to student files without subpoenas.

The administration argues that Harvard failed to protect Jewish students. The Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, made up of the departments of Education, Justice and Health and Human Services, announced the freezing of Harvard's federal funding after the university refused to comply with a list of demands.

"The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families, is coming to an end," the White House said when the cuts were announced. "Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege."

The federal government claims that Harvard failed to follow federal law by allegedly fostering antisemitism on campus and engaging in illegal discrimination through diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and is therefore not entitled to the federal funding.