Federal Judge Slams Trump’s DOGE for Unconstitutional Cuts to Jewish Humanities Grants

In a stark rebuke to the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled last Thursday that the agency’s mass cancellation of federal humanities grants was unlawful and unconstitutional. The judge’s 143-page opinion specifically condemned DOGE’s targeting of Jewish projects, including those focused on Holocaust research and Jewish women’s experiences.

Created by President Donald Trump and initially overseen by Elon Musk, DOGE aggressively dismantled federal agencies in early 2025, wielding artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT to label grants as “DEI” (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and slash funding en masse. Jewish humanities grants were disproportionately hit, with projects on topics ranging from Jewish women subjected to Nazi slave labor to ancient Jewish texts suddenly deemed wasteful and canceled.

Judge McMahon called this “viewpoint discrimination” and warned of the “specter of antisemitism” in DOGE’s actions. “Put simply, 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 wrote. “The Government may have its reasons for disfavoring that perspective, but the First Amendment does not permit it to divest someone of a government benefit.”

The ruling highlighted how DOGE’s cuts extended beyond Jewish projects to those focused on Black Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and women—revealing a disturbing pattern of suppressing minority voices in humanities research. Meanwhile, DOGE awarded the National Endowment for the Humanities’ largest grant ever—$10.4 million—to the politically conservative Tikvah Fund, exposing blatant ideological favoritism.

Despite the judge’s order to reinstate the canceled grants, the White House signaled it plans to fight the ruling. Spokesperson Davis Ingle dismissed the decision as “egregiously wrong” and accused the court of trying to “reinstate wasteful federal spending at the expense of the American taxpayer.”

The Authors Guild and scholarly groups who brought the lawsuit hailed the ruling as a victory for free speech and academic freedom. “We are gratified that justice was done,” said Authors Guild president Mary Rasenberger. “We will be watching closely to make sure every one of these grants is restored.”

This case lays bare the Trump administration’s authoritarian overreach disguised as fiscal responsibility—a brazen assault on democratic values, minority representation, and the integrity of federal funding for the humanities. As DOGE’s reckoning unfolds, the fight to protect diverse voices in scholarship and culture remains urgent.