Federal Judge Slams Trump-Era Agency for Unlawful Cuts to Jewish Humanities Grants

In a scathing 143-page decision, US District Judge Colleen McMahon declared last week that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) mass cancellation of federal humanities grants was unlawful and unconstitutional. DOGE, an agency created under Donald Trump’s presidency and overseen early on by Elon Musk, had axed many grants focused on Jewish projects, including vital Holocaust research, on the dubious grounds that they were “DEI” (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives.

Judge McMahon, appointed by Bill Clinton, called out DOGE’s blatant viewpoint discrimination, writing that the government “terminated the grant because the grant sought to empower and amplify the voices of Jewish women who were victims of Nazi persecution.” She emphasized that the First Amendment forbids the government from stripping funding simply because it disapproves of the perspective being presented.

The canceled projects included studies on Jewish women subjected to slave labor during the Holocaust, analyses of ancient Jewish writings excluded from the Hebrew Bible, and literary anthologies by Jewish writers from the former Soviet Union. These grants were lumped together with other cancelled projects focusing on Black, Native American, and Asian American experiences. McMahon condemned DOGE’s approach as treating grants related to minorities and women as “wasteful” solely due to their subject matter.

Meanwhile, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), under DOGE’s influence, awarded its largest-ever grant of $10.4 million to the Tikvah Fund, a politically conservative Jewish group, highlighting the administration’s selective funding based on ideological lines rather than scholarly merit.

Despite the ruling, the White House signaled it would fight the decision. “The district court’s ruling is egregiously wrong,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, accusing liberal judges of trying to “reinstate wasteful federal spending at the expense of the American taxpayer.”

The Authors Guild, which helped bring the lawsuit, praised the ruling. “We are gratified that justice was done,” said president Mary Rasenberger, pledging to ensure all affected grants are restored.

This ruling shines a harsh light on the Trump administration’s attempts to weaponize federal agencies and AI tools like ChatGPT to silence minority voices and reshape funding to fit a narrow political agenda. It is a critical reminder that government accountability and constitutional protections remain essential bulwarks against authoritarian overreach.