Media Highlights: Federal Judge Orders NEH Restore Cancelled Grants

On Thursday, May 7, 2026, US District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that the mass termination by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) of more than 1,400 grants to support scholars, research institutions, and humanities organizations was “unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, and without legal effect.”

The ruling, in response to a May 1, 2025, lawsuit filed by ACLS, the American Historical Association (AHA), and the Modern Language Association of America (MLA), declared the actions terminating the grants in April 2025, the largest mass termination of previously awarded grants in the history of the NEH, were “in violation of the First Amendment, in violation of the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment, and without statutory authority.”

Media Highlights

Additional Coverage

• CBS News: Federal judge finds DOGE’s elimination of humanities grants “unlawful” (5.7.26)
• NBC News: Judge rules Trump administration’s cancellation of humanities grants was unconstitutional (5.7.26)
• AlterNet: Judge deals another blow to the Trump admin (5.7.26)
• Raw Story: DOGE’s ChatGPT-driven mass grant purge deemed illegal in scathing order (5.7.26)
• NewsMax: Judge: WH Cancellation of Humanities Grants Was Unconstitutional (5.7.26)
• The Hill: Judge rules Trump administration’s cancellation of humanities grants was unconstitutional (5.7.26)
• Forbes: Judge Rules That Feds’ Mass Termination Of Humanities Grants Was Illegal (5.8.26)
• Reuters: US judge rules humanities grant terminations by DOGE were unlawful, discriminatory (5.8.26)
• The Guardian: Doge slashing of humanities grants in 2025 ruled biased and unconstitutional (5.8.26)
• Bloomberg Law News: Mass Termination of Humanities Grants Deemed Unlawful, Enjoined (5.8.26)
• HuffPost: Judge Says DOGE Attack On Humanities Funding Was Unconstitutional In Scathing Ruling (5.8.26)
• PBS News: Judge finds Trump’s DOGE-led cancellation of humanities grants unconstitutional (5.8.26)
• UPI: Judge: DOGE cuts to National Endowment for the Humanities were illegal (5.8.26)
• Jewish Telegraphic Agency: DOGE’s cuts to Jewish humanities grants were unconstitutional, judge rules (5.8.26)
• International Business Times UK: DOGE Used ChatGPT to Cut $100 Million in Humanities Grants, and a Judge Just Called It Unconstitutional (5.8.26)
• TechDirt: Court To DOGE Bros: Asking ChatGPT ‘Yo, Is This DEI?’ Is Not Proper Legal Process & Also A First Amendment Violation (5.8.26)
• The Verge: DOGE used ChatGPT in a way that was both dumb and illegal, judge rules (5.8.26)
• Epoch Times: Federal Judge Rules DOGE Humanities Grants Terminations Unlawful (5.8.26)
• Publishers Weekly: Federal Judge Orders Reinstatement of NEH Grants (5.11.26)
• Truthout: Fed Judge Rules DOGE Illegally and “Blatantly” Used DEI Terms to Cut Grants (5.11.26)