Federal judge blocks Trump attempt to freeze more than $2 billion in Harvard funds

A U.S. judge in Boston on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration's attempt to terminate roughly $2.2 billion in federal research funding for Harvard University — marking a major victory for the nation's oldest college, which has sparred with Trump officials for months over federal funding.

U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs rejected the Trump administration's assertion that it was attempting to strip Harvard of the billions in federal funding due to allegations of antisemitism, or the university's failure to comply with the recommendations of a federal antisemitism task force. 

"A review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that defendants used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities," Burroughs said in the 84-page decision.