Federal Judge Rules NEH Grant Cancellations Unconstitutional

A federal court ruled Thursday that the cancellation of National Endowment for the Humanities grants was unconstitutional, potentially restoring funding for more than 1,400 projects that had been terminated last year. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon found that Department of Government Efficiency personnel lacked authority to terminate the grants and that the cuts violated the First and Fifth Amendments.

The judge wrote that the NEH "was not created as a vehicle for government expression" but rather to support the work of private citizens, scholars, teachers, writers and institutions. The grants, which totaled more than $100 million, funded research, education programming and restoration work.

Elizabeth Kadetsky, an English professor at Penn State, had her grant for a nonfiction-writing project on stolen Indian antiquities canceled.

Background on the Cancellations The terminations occurred shortly after President Trump returned to office last year. DOGE officials reviewed grants that had been awarded during the former Biden administration. They used keyword searches for terms including BIPOC, gay, tribal, immigrants and diversity, according to court records.

Two DOGE employees, Justin Fox and Nate Cavanaugh, divided the grants into categories such as "Craziest Grants" and "Other Bad Grants," labels that Fox described as reflecting their subjective views. " The NEH was founded in 1965 as the only federal agency devoted to funding the humanities.

Its annual budget is around $200 million. Last fall the White House fired a majority of the agency's board, retaining only four members previously appointed by Trump. The agency's 2027 budget proposal called for eliminating the NEH along with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Reactions to the Ruling Plaintiffs in the case, which included the Modern Language Association, the Federation of State Humanities Councils and Oregon Humanities, described the decision as a moral victory. Paula Krebs, executive director of the Modern Language Association, said the ruling affirmed the country's commitment to the humanities even if the funding is not ultimately restored.

" White House spokesperson Davis Ingle stated that the administration expects to be vindicated as the case proceeds. The NEH did not respond to requests for comment. The administration could appeal the decision to pause its enforcement. The ruling applies to research grants awarded to scholars, writers, research institutions and other humanities organizations as well as operating grants for state humanities councils.