View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]



** For Immediate Release: September 4, 2025
------------------------------------------------------------


** In a First Amendment Victory, Court Rules: Government Can’t Freeze Funding to Impose Ideology on Harvard
------------------------------------------------------------

BOSTON, Mass. — In a major victory for the First Amendment and academic freedom ([link removed]) , a federal court has ruled that the Trump administration’s blatant attempt to force Harvard University to conform to the government’s ideological viewpoint is unconstitutional.

The ruling ([link removed]) by Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Boston found that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment when it froze $2.2 billion dollars in research funding in an effort “to require Harvard to overhaul its governance, hiring, and academic programs to comport with the government’s ideology and prescribed viewpoint.”

The Rutherford Institute joined a broad coalition of civil liberties organizations—including the ACLU, ACLU of Massachusetts, Cato Institute, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Knight First Amendment Institute, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press—in opposing the Trump administration’s attempts to wage a political war on academic freedom ([link removed]) and ideological independence.

“This ruling is a powerful rebuke of the government’s attempt to police thought and punish dissent,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People ([link removed]) . “By weaponizing federal funding to force ideological conformity, the Trump administration wasn’t just targeting Harvard—it was launching a war on the First Amendment itself. If the government can dictate what is taught in a university classroom, it won’t stop there—it will try to dictate what is preached in the pulpit, printed in the press, and spoken in the streets. This kind of ideological tyranny is the very danger the First Amendment was written to prevent.”
MAKE THE GOVERNMENT PLAY BY THE RULES OF THE CONSTITUTION: SUPPORT THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM ([link removed])

The district court’s ruling ([link removed]) comes in response to an April 2025 move by the Trump administration to cancel billions in research funding and blacklist Harvard from future grants unless the university agreed to: vet students, faculty, and departments for “viewpoint diversity”; alter its hiring, admissions, and curriculum choices to conform to the government’s ideological preferences; submit to a third-party audit of programs that “reflect ideological capture”; and install new leadership committed to enforcing the government’s demands.

Refusing to “surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights ([link removed]) ” and “be taken over by the federal government,” Harvard then filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging the government’s actions. In coming to Harvard’s defense, the coalition’s amicus brief ([link removed]) argued that the government cannot use its financial power to force any private institution—liberal or conservative—to adopt state-sanctioned views. The First Amendment, the brief emphasizes, guarantees that private universities retain autonomy over what to teach, how to teach, who will teach, and whom to admit—free from government control or interference.

The federal court agreed ([link removed]) , ordering the restoration of all previously withdrawn grants and prohibiting the federal government from denying future research funding to Harvard in retaliation for the exercise of its First Amendment rights.

Cecillia D. Wang, Ben Wizner, Vera Eidelman, Brian Hauss, Jessie J. Rossman, and Rachel E. Davidson at ACLU advanced the arguments in the amicus brief ([link removed]) in President and Fellows of Harvard College v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Rutherford Institute ([link removed]) is a nonprofit civil liberties organization dedicated to making the government play by the rules of the Constitution. To this end, the Institute defends individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a broad range of issues affecting their freedoms.
------------------------------------------------------------

President and Fellows of Harvard College v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Case History

July 02, 2025 • Rutherford Warns: The Government's War on Academic Freedom and ‘Thought Crimes’ Is Turning Orwell’s 1984 Into Official Policy ([link removed])
* Amicus brief ([link removed]) - District Court
* District Court Opinion ([link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------

This press release is also available at www.rutherford.org ([link removed]) .

Source: [link removed]
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Frutherford%2Fcourt-rules-trump-cant-freeze-funds-to-force-government-ideology-on-harvard Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Frutherford%2Fcourt-rules-trump-cant-freeze-funds-to-force-government-ideology-on-harvard)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION ([link removed])

To donate via PayPal, please click below:
[link removed]

============================================================
** Follow us on Facebook ([link removed])
** Follow us on Facebook ([link removed])
** Follow us on Twitter ([link removed])
** Follow us on Twitter ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
CONTACT INFORMATION
Nisha Whitehead
(434) 978-3888 ext. 604
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE
Post Office Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: (434) 978-3888
** www.rutherford.org ([link removed])

Copyright © 2025 The Rutherford Institute, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because of your interest in the work of The Rutherford Institute. Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. To discontinue your membership electronically, or if you feel you are receiving this message in error, please follow the link below.

Under the regulations of the United States Internal Revenue Service, The Rutherford Institute is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit organization. Donations to support The Rutherford Institute’s legal and educational work help to safeguard the constitutional rights of all Americans. Donations are tax-deductible. In compliance with general industry standards of a nonprofit organization, the Institute is audited annually by an independent accounting firm.

** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

** update subscription preferences ([link removed])