From the Harvard Crimson: The Trump administration appealed a September ruling ordering the return of nearly $2.7 billion in frozen research funds to Harvard, according to a notice of appeal submitted [December 18]. The appeal, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, follows through on the Trump administration’s promise to challenge the Sept. 3 decision by District Judge Allison D. Burroughs, which granted Harvard sweeping summary judgement on constitutional grounds.
In a brief filing, lawyers for the Department of Justice said it would challenge final judgements in two cases — one brought by Harvard and another filed by the Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The appeal sends the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and formally begins the next phase of a legal battle that Burroughs previously decided largely in Harvard’s favor.
...If the federal government loses in its appeal to the First Circuit, its last hope is the Supreme Court, where the Trump administration may find more sympathy for its arguments. The Court’s conservative supermajority has frequently defended exertions of executive power by the Trump administration...
Federal law does not impose a deadline for the First Circuit to act on the appeal, and because the government appealed from a final judgement, the court does not have discretion to decline review...
The federal government and Harvard are currently in talks over a potential settlement to their months-long conflict, which would entail a payment as large as $500 million in exchange for the restoration of funds and a resolution to ongoing investigations. No details of an agreement have been finalized.
Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/12/19/trump-admin-appeal-funding/.
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