{"id":598617,"date":"2026-05-08T23:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=598617"},"modified":"2026-05-08T23:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:15:00","slug":"clinton-appointed-federal-judge-rules-doges-terminations-of-humanities-grants-unlawful-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=598617","title":{"rendered":"Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Rules DOGE’s Terminations Of Humanities Grants Unlawful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Rules DOGE’s Terminations Of Humanities Grants Unlawful<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A federal judge ruled on May 7 that the Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s (DOGE\u2019s) termination of hundreds of humanities grants last year was unconstitutional and involved \u201cblatant\u201d discrimination.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In April 2025, the Trump administration axed more than 1,400 grants, amounting to more than $100 million in congressionally appropriated funds awarded to scholars, writers, research institutions, and other humanities organizations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The move was part of a whirlwind cost-cutting drive that tech billionaire Elon Musk was leading at DOGE as a \u201cspecial government employee\u201d\u2014a role that is term-limited to 130 days. Musk departed that role after completing his term in May 2025.<\/p>\n

However, Bill Clinton-appointed District Judge Colleen McMahon, ruling at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said that the administration \u201cengaged in blatant viewpoint discrimination,\u201d <\/strong>ruling in consolidated cases brought by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Authors Guild, and others.<\/p>\n

McMahon said the terminations violated the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fifth Amendment, which confers equal protection.<\/p>\n

She also ruled that DOGE did not have the legal authority to terminate the grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat mattered to DOGE was not whether a grant lacked scholarly merit, failed to comply with its terms, or fell outside NEH\u2019s [National Endowment for the Humanities] statutory purposes. What mattered was that the grant concerned a \u2019minority group,’\u201d <\/strong>she ruled.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDOGE\u00a0swept in race and ethnicity \u2013 including\u00a0grants concerning Black, Asian, Latino, and Indigenous\u00a0communities \u2013 as well as national origin and immigration status; religion and religious\u00a0identity (including Jewish, Christian, and Muslim subjects); sex; and sexual orientation, as criteria for\u00a0grant\u00a0termination.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

McMahon also said that DOGE staffers using ChatGPT to establish the rationale behind axing some grants would not absolve the government of responsibility for its decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government cannot escape liability for DOGE\u2019s work by scapegoating ChatGPT,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> she ruled.<\/p>\n

Neither DOGE nor the White House has yet responded to the ruling. The Epoch Times has contacted both for comment.<\/p>\n

According to DOGE\u2019s website, the department has saved an estimated $215 billion in taxpayers\u2019 money since it was established in January 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That figure amounts to around $1,335.40 per taxpayer, according to DOGE.<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s work has been met with other litigation since it began, with the Trump administration in March<\/a> asking the Supreme Court for a second time to halt lower courts\u2019 attempts to access information about DOGE\u2019s inner workings.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court intervened in the case last year, ruling that lower courts\u2019 orders for the government to turn over information about the department\u2019s activities were overbroad. An appeals court has since asked for less information, but the government told the Supreme Court on March 23 that the requests were still intruding too much on executive branch powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court of appeals has continued to approve intrusive discovery against a presidential advisory body without adequate consideration for the separation of powers, the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] statute, and this Court\u2019s previous order,\u201d the government\u2019s filing stated.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington\u00a0sued DOGE last year after its FOIA requests were not honored.<\/p>\n

The government has argued that DOGE is an advisory arm of the executive branch\u2014not an agency\u2014and is not required to submit to FOIA inquiries. But a district court in Washington ruled differently and ordered DOGE to comply with those inquiries.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the administration\u2019s latest request.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 05\/08\/2026 – 19:15<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Rules DOGE’s Terminations Of Humanities Grants Unlawful Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times, A federal judge ruled on May 7 that the Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s (DOGE\u2019s) termination of hundreds of humanities grants last year was unconstitutional and involved \u201cblatant\u201d discrimination. In April 2025, the Trump administration axed more than… Continue reading Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Rules DOGE’s Terminations Of Humanities Grants Unlawful<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-598617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=598617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/598607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=598617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=598617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=598617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}