Courts and Academic Free Speech

The Trump administration’s Justice Department on Friday formally appealed Judge Allison Burroughs’ September order restoring roughly $2.7 billion in frozen federal research funding to Harvard. Burroughs had said the administration used allegations of antisemitism as a “smokescreen” for an ideologically motivated assault on elite universities; the DOJ says it may withdraw funding over alleged ties to violence, antisemitism and the Chinese Communist Party, while Harvard says the funds support vital scientific, medical and national‑security research and is confident in its legal position as negotiations continue.