Today's Ninth Circuit decision in Thakur v. Trump (Judge Morgan B. Christen, joined by Judges Richard A. Paez and Roopali H. Desai) denied a stay pending appeal of a district court preliminary injunction that blocked the cancellation of certain research grants. In the process, the court concluded that the cancellation likely violated the First Amendment:
Plaintiffs are six researchers at the University of California (UC) who applied for and received multi-year federal research grants from … the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) … and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)….
In April 2025, EPA and NEH sent form letters to Plaintiffs informing them that their grants were terminated. The EPA form letter states: "the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities. The objectives of the award are no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities." The NEH form letter states: "[y]our grant no longer effectuates the agency's needs and priorities," and informs the recipient that "NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President's agenda."
Plaintiffs allege that these terminations resulted from agency implementation of at least eight Executive Orders the President issued in January and February 2025: Executive Orders 14173, 14151, 14168, 14154, 14217, 14238, 14158, and 14222. Executive Orders 14173 and 14151 (the "DEI Executive Orders") seek to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI") and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility ("DEIA") policies and initiatives from all aspects of the federal government. More specifically, Executive Order No. 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, states that "critical and influential institutions of American society," including the federal government and institutions of higher education, "have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race-and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) or 'diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility' (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation." This Executive Order directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to "[e]xcise references to DEI and DEIA principles under whatever name they may appear," including federal grants.
