LA Times
- UC researchers fight Trump cuts in federal court and get an early win.
- They got help from prominent UC Berkeley law school colleagues who pressed their case.
Amid an avalanche of lawsuits in which universities and states are fighting the Trump administration over slashing research funding, a significant early win this week in California stands out.
Six individual UC arts, science and medical researchers banded together to fight cancellations to their at times relatively small, but distinct federally funded studies: examining racial equity in education, assessing health risks to racial minorities who face wildfire smoke, evaluating the role of Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul in the 19th century.
Lacking the power of big institutional legal backing to pursue their case, they got help from of two of their UC Berkeley colleagues to personally make their case: Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school and an expert in constitutional law, and Claudia Polsky, former California deputy attorney general-turned-UC law professor.
The result?
A federal judge has not only ordered the Trump administration to restore millions of dollars in UC grants, but also said the case could proceed as a class-action suit, opening it to UC researchers statewide.
