Federal court blocks Trump administration from enforcing anti-DEI conditions on university grants mid-cycle

A federal district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from enforcing anti-DEI conditions on existing university grants, finding that attaching new ideological compliance requirements to already-awarded grants likely violated contract law and the Administrative Procedure Act. The court found that universities had reasonable reliance interests in the terms under which their grants were originally awarded and that the administration's attempt to alter those terms mid-performance period without Congressional authorization exceeded its authority. The ruling temporarily protected hundreds of ongoing research projects from cancellation based on DEI content, although it applied only to existing grants and not to new funding decisions. The injunction was among the earliest judicial limitations placed on the administration's anti-DEI enforcement campaign against universities.