The U.S. federal court has cut sharp cuts from President Donald Trump’s administration to Harvard University.
Judge Allison Burroughs ruled that the government had violated the Ivy League’s right to freedom of speech, when it revoked about $20 billion (£1.5 billion) in research funding.
The ruling is a major legal victory for Harvard University, but is likely to be appealed. The Trump administration accused the school of “radical left” of ideology and racial bias when it freezes funds in April.
Three other Ivy League colleges, including Columbia University, have reached a deal with Trump to maintain federal research funding that has been jeopardized by similar administration claims.
“The court revoked and put aside the freeze order and termination letter in order to violate the First Amendment,” Boston-based judge Burroughs wrote in his ruling on Wednesday.
The judge wrote in her 84-page decision that Harvard should do more to deal with anti-Semitism, which she said has “troubled” the agency in recent years.
But she found little connection between the impact of funding from school cuts and research influenced by anti-Semitism claims.
She suggested that the government “use anti-Semitism as a smoke screen for targeted ideologically motivated attacks on the country’s prime minister’s university”.
Justice Burroughs, appointed by former President Barack Obama, has previously blocked Trump from blocking Harvard’s efforts to host international students.
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