****BREAKING**** Judge Rules TACO's Harvard Shakedown Illegal

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Harvard University won a crucial legal victory in its clash with the Trump administration on Wednesday, when a federal judge said that the government had broken the law by freezing billions of dollars in research funds in the name of stamping out antisemitism.

The ruling may not be the final word on the matter, but the decision by Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Boston was, at the very least, an interim rebuff of the Trump administration’s campaign to remake elite higher education by force.

Although Harvard’s case centered on its research funding, the university contended that the administration had compromised its First Amendment and due process rights. Now, the judge’s decision stands to give Harvard new leverage with the White House in settlement talks.

MORE

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/us/harvard-trump-funding-ruling.html

[underpants]

1. (haffa peace sign to Trump)

I learned about that today.

[ornotna]

6. Can do

[Harker]

7. He can get the other half on my other hand.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. MaddowBlog-Federal judge: Trump administration went too far freezing $2.2 billion for Harvard

After the White House targeted the university’s finances, Harvard’s lawyers took the matter to court. So far, the school is winning.

After Harvard resisted ridiculous White House demands, Team Trump retaliated quickly and cut off .2 billion in grants.

As a court unfreezes the funds, Harvard will benefit — but so will we. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-03T21:27:05.907Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/harvard-trump-funding-freeze-rcna228937

Donald Trump’s unusually aggressive campaign against Harvard University has been multifaceted, but at the heart of the offensive is the president taking aim at the school’s finances.....

The university and its lawyers took the matter to court. As NBC News reported, it’s now prevailed at the district court level.

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs granted in part Harvard’s motion with respect to the freeze orders. ‘All freezes and terminations of funding to Harvard made pursuant to the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters on or after April 14, 2025 are vacated and set aside,’ the order said.

While the judge acknowledged the White House’s allegations related to antisemitism at Harvard, she added, “There is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism.”

This is the second time this summer that the administration has lost a court fight with the university: In June, after the White House tried to rescind the school’s ability to host international students, the same federal judge blocked the policy from proceeding.

The case will likely be appealed, but in the meantime, it’s worth emphasizing that the money in question wasn’t allocated as gifts or rewards. At issue are scholarly research grants that were awarded after a competitive process. The federal funds weren’t about helping Harvard, they were about helping us.

To be sure, the university suffered as a result of the White House’s retaliatory tactics, but Harvard’s victory at the district court benefits the American public at least as much as it helps the school.

[Prairie Gates]

3. "...new leverage with the White House in settlement talks."

Settlement talks = kick rocks.

The New York Times got fed a false story by Trump insiders that Harvard was in settlement talks with them, which everyone at Harvard denied. They're continuing to pretend that this story is real and that they didn't get completely snowed, even in the face of massive evidence to the contrary (Harvard's aggressive litigation and complete refusal to comply).

So they frame this story - a shocking rebuke of the basic premise of all Trump's university shakedowns, enabled explicitly by Harvard's resistance to those shakedowns - as yet more evidence that Harvard is "in settlement talks" with the WH.

The New York Times is a clown paper.

[synni]

4. He'll just take the case to The Supremes

They will happily rule in his favor.

[FakeNoose]

5. Thank you Judge Allison Burroughs!

The federal judges are doing their jobs and holding the line on Chump.
Let's go Congress, get off your butts and fight like the federal judges!

[UTUSN]

8. K&R