Federal Judge Orders UCLA Research Grants Reinstated

Just weeks after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Trump administration and its agencies from cutting off UC research grant funds via form letter and without articulated bases or consideration of reliance, the National Science Foundation once again did exactly that, indefinitely “suspending” tens of millions of dollars in grant funding to UCLA via two form letters sent to the school’s chancellor on July 30, 2025. The UC Researcher Plaintiffs in Thakur v. Trump moved the district court for an order finding this newest funding cutoff violated the court’s preliminary injunction, and after briefing and hearing, the court agreed.

In her August 12, 2025 order, Northern District Judge Rita Lin held that these en masse indefinite grant “suspensions” were indistinguishable from grant terminations, therefore violating the preliminary injunction order. Judge Lin vacated the grant suspensions and ordered NSF to reinstate grants to the affected class members. Read the order here.

The plaintiff class is represented by Farella Braun + Martel's Tony Schoenberg, Donald Sobelman, Linda Gilleran, Dylan Silva, Kyle McLorg, and Katherine Balkoski; Elizabeth Cabraser, Richard Heimann, Kevin Budner, Annie Wanless, and Nabila Abdallah with Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP; and Erwin Chemerinsky and Claudia Polsky.