White House admits it used keywords to kill billions worth of California research grants
The National Institutes of Health said it used internal search tools to flag more than 1,000 University of California grants for termination.
- In Thakur v. Trump court filings last week, federal agencies admitted using keywords like "health equity" and "structural racism" to screen and terminate more than 1,000 research grants at the University of California.
- Lawyers for the researchers contend this admission confirms the illegal cancellation of nearly $2 billion in funding, with agencies targeting projects in states supporting Kamala Harris while leaving grants in "red" states untouched.
- The National Institutes of Health alone suspended or cancelled nearly 700 grants at UCLA, while The Department of Transportation terminated six projects worth about $42 million, forcing researchers to lay off more than 40 graduate and undergraduate assistants.
- Arguing agencies bypassed required assessments, plaintiffs asked Judge Rita F. Lin to issue a final ruling ordering grant restoration, while The Environmental Protection Agency moves toward settlement to avoid further litigation.
- The health agency suggested Elon Musk's short-lived DOGE office may have used AI to target grants for termination, with a court hearing scheduled for Oct. 20 to determine whether funding will be permanently restored.
37 Articles
37 Articles
WH Used Keywords Like 'Diveristy' To Kill Grants That Defied Trump's Platform
The Trump White House just said the quiet part out loud in a series of signed stipulations in the federal court case, Thakur v. Trump, a class-action lawsuit launched last spring by University of California researchers that accuses the Trump Administration of mass-killing billions of dollars in federal research grants based on political motivation. Their new stipulations submitted to federal court all but prove that. The Trump Admin's court fili…
Why UC Researchers Are Suing Over Canceled Federal Research Grants
A lawsuit filed by University of California researchers has become one of the highest-profile legal challenges to the Trump administration's cancellation of federal research funding. In July 2026, federal agencies acknowledged in court filings that they used keyword searches and general criteria, rather than grant-specific assessment, to identify grants for termination.
WH Admits Using Keywords To Kill Research Grants
The Associated Press reports: Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 to screen for projects that ran afoul of the Trump administration’s priorities. It’s an admission that lawyers for the research professors say is proof that the agencies illegally cancelled nearly $2 billion in gr…
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