A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's administration has no right to levy fines or cut government funding for public academic institutions based on claims of discrimination or antisemitism, Newsmax reported. The decision came from a case brought by organizations on behalf of the University of California.
Trump fined the institution $1.2 billion and shut off its funding for research because of rampant antisemitism on campus. It was the first public university to receive such treatment that Trump had promised ot those violating civil rights.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin reprimanded the Trump administration for this action in her ruling. She claimed she based it on "overwhelming evidence" against the administration that was "engaged in a concerted campaign to purge 'woke,' 'left,' and 'socialist' viewpoints from our country's leading universities" by punishing them this way.
"Agency officials, as well as the President and Vice President, have repeatedly and publicly announced a playbook of initiating civil rights investigations of preeminent universities to justify cutting off federal funding, with the goal of bringing universities to their knees and forcing them to change their ideological tune. It is undisputed that this precise playbook is now being executed at the University of California," Lin wrote.
For years, America's institutions of higher education, many of which receive government funding, have engaged in discrimination against students and propagated radical ideas. It is now against the law for colleges to admit students based on their race, and Trump has accused institutions of continuing to do so.
According to NPR, the administration also required UCLA and others to expel foreign students who act against America's interests and engage in antisemitic "disruptions or harassment" as part of his October edict. Trump agreed to accept $50 million from Brown University and $221 million from Columbia University for those violations.
It's apparent that they're not America first unless forced to be so, but Lin claimed that academia in the nation "remains committed to protecting the mission, governance, and academic freedom of the University." With Lin's permanent injunction, the Trump administration is now barred from "conditioning the grant or continuance of federal funding on the UC's agreement to any measures that would violate the rights of Plaintiffs' members under the First Amendment."
Meanwhile, university campuses are becoming hotbeds of discrimination and anti-Israel sentiment. A PBS report from September 2024 shared how students set up tents on the campus of Columbia University to support the Palestinians in the war against Israel. This move made many Jewish students feel unwelcome.
"As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist. Not only protests and encampments, the limit is the sky," said graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who acted as a spokesperson and brokered a deal with the university when it sought to appease the students.
The judge has temporarily stopped the administration from punishing radicals who use the university system to fuel leftism and anti-Americanism. Nevertheless, Trump's presidency has been all about restoring normalcy and the idea of American exceptionalism, and that was a major part of why he was elected.
Trump said as much when reflecting on his first six months in office. "Wow, time flies! Today is that Sixth Month Anniversary of my Second Term. Importantly, it’s being hailed as one of the most consequential periods of any President," Trump said in a post to his Truth Social on July 20.
"In other words, we got a lot of good and great things done, including ending numerous wars of Countries not related to us other than through Trade and/or, in certain cases, friendship. Six months is not a long time to have totally revived a major Country. One year ago our Country was DEAD, with almost no hope of revival. Today the USA is the 'hottest' and most respected Country anywhere in the World.' Happy Anniversary!!!
The left is afraid of Trump's ability to limit their insanity that is infecting college campuses. The judge may have barred Trump from imposing this particular punishment, but he momentum against the radicalism of the left has already begun to restore normalcy to the nation.
