By Aubrey Rogers and Fiona Hu • August 6, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Columbia joined 35 universities in filing an amicus brief July 22 that supports Harvard University’s ongoing legal battle against President Donald Trump’s administration, after the federal government appealed a lower court’s ruling that called on it to restore nearly $2.2 billion in frozen funding.
The move marks the first time Columbia has joined Harvard in its lawsuit against the federal government over research funding. Harvard currently has two ongoing lawsuits—one seeking the restoration of federal funding and one against the blocking of international student enrollment. Columbia did not file an amicus brief in support of Harvard when the lawsuit was in district court—it was the only Ivy League institution other than Cornell University to refrain from doing so—but it did join a January amicus brief in support of the lawsuit blocking international student enrollment.
The brief argues that historically, the federal government’s substantial investment in universities played a critical role in “life-changing and history-altering innovations” and that freezing the funding disrupts ongoing projects, undermining “American leadership in the process.” The brief also draws from the district court ruling, which found that the Trump administration’s demands to prevent funding cuts towards Harvard were unconstitutional.
“These cuts to research funding risk a future where the next pathbreaking innovation—whether it is a cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s, a military technology, or the next Internet—is discovered beyond our shores, if at all,” the brief reads.
A University spokesperson declined to comment further on Columbia’s decision to sign the brief.
