AAUP Seeks Restraining Order on Termination of Grants

The AAUP and three co-plaintiffs last night sought a temporary restraining order from the federal district court to prevent the Trump administration from using two executive orders to terminate essential grants and contracts. As our brief explains, the orders are unconstitutional, usurping congressional power and violating First and Fifth Amendment rights.

Absent preliminary relief, irreparable harm will be caused to these members, their students, and communities through the unlawful termination of billions of dollars of grants and contracts, the severe chilling of speech due to unlawful certifications and investigations, and arbitrary enforcement based on unconstitutionally vague executive orders.

The AAUP membership is affected by these orders in multiple ways. Our members include faculty whose work focuses on Black studies; Latino studies; Asian studies; gender or sexual orientation identities; diversity, equity, and inclusion specifically; environmental justice; and other subject matter targeted by the president’s anti-DEIA executive orders.

The AAUP represents a significant number of members who focus on medical and other scientific research related to whether and how race and ethnicity affect health outcomes. For example, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School faculty, including AAUP members, received a National Science Foundation grant to study environmental and cultural influences on substance abuse issues in Black and Latinx Youth. Academic professionals who are members of the AAUP receive federal grants from agencies across the federal government, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Department of Health and Human Services, among many others. Many of these grants fund the salaries of medical school faculty, graduate students, and other researchers who focus on health equity. Others focus on the impact of climate change and other environmental risks on diverse communities.

Beyond AAUP members, the pleadings detail how students and communities would be harmed by the termination of the higher education grants: work on female reproductive health would be curtailed; assistance to help students with disabilities and from underrepresented populations graduate and find careers would be undermined; and efforts to strengthen research capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities would be set back.

It is expected that the Trump administration will oppose this request, and it could take several weeks for the court to issue a decision

Related Content:

Fact sheet on Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom)
Fact sheet on Executive Order Weaponizing Civil Rights Law (AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom)