Lawsuit Success

As this exciting academic year draws to a close, here is something that seems to have worked out - so far.

From the LA Times: Six individual UC arts, science and medical researchers banded together to fight cancellations to their at times relatively small, but distinct federally funded studies: examining racial equity in education, assessing health risks to racial minorities who face wildfire smoke, evaluating the role of Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul in the 19th century.

Lacking the power of big institutional legal backing to pursue their case, they got help from of two of their UC Berkeley colleagues to personally make their case: Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school and an expert in constitutional law, and Claudia Polsky, former California deputy attorney general-turned-UC law professor.

The result? A federal judge has not only ordered the Trump administration to restore millions of dollars in UC grants, but also said the case could proceed as a class-action suit, opening it to UC researchers statewide...

UC has joined or filed in support of several other suits protesting Trump cuts, including those addressing National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Education Department reductions, but it was not part [of this one]...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-25/trump-lawsuit-university-of-california-researchers.