Judge rules DOGE cancellation of humanities grants was unconstitutional
A New York federal judge permanently blocked the Trump administration and DOGE from canceling more than $100 million in humanities grants, calling the cuts unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and rejecting the AI-based screening process.
What Matters
- Judge Colleen McMahon barred termination of more than 1,400 congressionally approved NEH grants.
- The ruling finds First Amendment and Fifth Amendment equal-protection violations, not just bad process.
- DOGE had no lawful authority to cancel the grants; the White House and DOJ have not said whether they will appeal.
- McMahon called the DEI-based cuts a “textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”
- The court scrutinized ChatGPT use in classifying projects, including a Holocaust anthology mislabeled as DEI.
- [HN: @1659447091] The sharpest issue is agency accountability: “ChatGPT was the Government’s chosen instrument.”
- [HN: @sega_sai] Expect an appeal; the real limiter may be whether higher courts treat the executive order theory as enough.
