Harvard sues Trump administration to stop the freeze of more than $2 billion in grants

Harvard sues Trump administration over $2.2 billion grant freeze, citing First Amendment rights and Title VI violations.

Harvard University announced Monday (April 21, 2025) that it has filed suit to halt a federal freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.

In a letter to Harvard earlier this month, the Trump administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs.

Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.

“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,” said the lawsuit, filed in Boston federal court.

“Nor has the Government acknowledged the significant consequences that the indefinite freeze of billions of dollars in federal research funding will have on Harvard’s research programs, the beneficiaries of that research, and the national interest in furthering American innovation and progress,” it added.

In its lawsuit, Harvard said the funding freeze violated its First Amendment rights and the statutory provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The freeze, according to the lawsuit, was also “arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

The lawsuit follows one filed earlier this month by the American Association of University Professors demanding that a federal judge declare unlawful and put aside a pending review and investigation of Harvard's funding.