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US appeals court weighs Trump's block on Harvard research funding · GNN Daily Breaking News

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  Speaker 1: The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
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  Speaker 1: heard oral arguments regarding executive attempts to terminate over $ 2
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  Speaker 1: billion in federal research grants awarded to Harvard University. A
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  Speaker 1: three-judge appellate panel in Boston examined whether a lower federal
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  Speaker 1: court exceeded its authority by permanently enjoining the Department of
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  Speaker 1: Justice and federal grant-making agencies from withholding scientific funding. The
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  Speaker 1: proceedings mark the latest chapter in an ongoing legal battle
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  Speaker 1: over administrative efforts to tie federal academic support to institutional
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  Speaker 1: compliance with executive directives on campus governance, diversity programs, and
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  Speaker 1: civil rights enforcement. The government's appeal seeks to overturn an
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  Speaker 1: 84-page district court decision issued by United States District Judge
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  Speaker 1: Allison Burroughs. who determined that executive agencies violated the First
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  Speaker 1: Amendment and administrative law by abruptly freezing university grants. In
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  Speaker 1: her lower court ruling, Judge Burroughs concluded that administration officials
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  Speaker 1: used allegations of campus antisemitism as an ideologically motivated pretext
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  Speaker 1: to penalize the university for rejecting federal policy demands. Before
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  Speaker 1: the appellate panel, Justice Department attorneys argued that federal agencies
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  Speaker 1: retain broad authority to withhold taxpayer funding from institutions that
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  Speaker 1: exhibit deliberate indifference toward civil rights compliance, maintaining that jurisdiction
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  Speaker 1: over federal grant disputes properly belongs before specialized claims courts
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  Speaker 1: rather than district tribunals. During oral argument, Members of the
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  Speaker 1: appellate panel raised significant questions regarding the procedural foundation of
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  Speaker 1: the government's grant cancellations. Circuit judges noted that federal agencies
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  Speaker 1: enacted sweeping financial terminations without conducting formal administrative investigations or
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  Speaker 1: issuing detailed factual findings regarding institutional noncompliance. counsel representing Harvard
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  Speaker 1: emphasized that the funding terminations amounted to unconstitutional retaliation designed
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  Speaker 1: to coerce institutional speech and academic governance. As the Appellate
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  Speaker 1: Tribunal takes the case under advisement, the outcome remains poised
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  Speaker 1: to set major judicial precedent regarding federal authority to withhold
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  Speaker 1: research capital from private higher education institutions.