Harvard funding appeal filed

The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to reinstate its freeze on Harvard’s research funding after losing in district court. (bloomberg.com) In a brief filed Wednesday, April 15, in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, the government asked the court to overturn Judge Allison Burroughs’s September 3, 2025 ruling. That ruling had restored more than $2 billion in grants, and other reports put the total at roughly $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion when contracts are included. (bloomberg.com) (thecrimson.com) (wbur.org) The administration says it had authority to cut the money after Harvard refused federal demands tied to campus governance and the school’s response to antisemitism. In the appeal, the government argued taxpayers need not keep funding universities that showed “deliberate indifference” to antisemitic conduct and discrimination. (bostonglobe.com) (thecrimson.com) Burroughs ruled last September that the freeze violated Harvard’s free speech and due process rights and amounted to retaliation for protected speech. Her order followed Harvard’s April 21, 2025 lawsuit challenging a White House pressure campaign that had begun with funding threats issued on April 11, 2025. (bloomberg.com) (abcnews.com) (news.harvard.edu) The fight over research money is running alongside a second case over admissions records. On April 14, 2026, Harvard answered a Department of Justice lawsuit filed February 13, saying the government’s complaint was “another page” in a year-long campaign and that it was trying to relitigate compliance with the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision. (harvardmagazine.com) (harvard.edu) Harvard’s filing says it changed its admissions procedures after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling and then reached a final judgment with Students for Fair Admissions on January 9, 2024. The university argues the new Justice Department suit seeks applicant-level data even though the earlier case had already been resolved. (harvard.edu) (supreme.justia.com) The funding appeal matters beyond Cambridge because the frozen money supports federally backed research projects, and Burroughs’s order said the government could not use grant cancellations to force changes in university governance, hiring, and campus oversight. The administration is now asking the First Circuit to say those conditions were lawful. (news.harvard.edu) (thecrimson.com) The next step is in the First Circuit, where the government is trying to put the freeze back in place while the appeal moves forward. Harvard is fighting on both fronts, with one case about research dollars and another about whether the administration can reopen an admissions dispute the university says is already over. (bloomberg.com) (harvardmagazine.com)