A federal court has mandated that the Trump administration reinstate some of the 800 federal science research grants it halted at UCLA last month, marking a significant blow to attempts to pressure the school toward a $1 billion settlement agreement.

Judge Rita F. Lin of California’s district court determined Tuesday that the grant suspensions were a breach of her preliminary injunction in June, in which she had directed the National Science Foundation to reinstate 114 terminated grants at the University of California and prohibited the agency from canceling additional grants within the UC system.

The injunction came after lawyers representing UC researchers argued that the termination of science foundation grants over allegations of several diversity, equity, and inclusion violations was a defiance of federal law. Federal government attorneys maintained that halting the UCLA grants did not breach Judge Lin’s June directive, which prohibited terminations but made no mention of suspensions. 

University of California researchers’ counsel argued there is no distinction between suspensions and terminations, as both result in researchers losing funding access. They further contended that, as with the June case, the UCLA grant suspensions failed to comply with federal procedures requiring agencies to justify why each individual grant should cease receiving continued funding.

“NSF’s indefinite suspensions differ from a termination in name only.” Judge Lin wrote in Tuesday’s order, adding that the letters informing UCLA of the grant suspensions “fail to provide a ‘grant-specific explanation’ for why the award has been terminated, as required by the Preliminary Injunction.”

The Trump administration had originally suspended the grants alleging that the school had admitted students based on their race despite public schools in California having been barred from affirmative action since 1996. In an August 1 letter to campus officials, the NSF also alleged that the school relied on admissions essays to determine the race of applicants.

“NSF believes that UCLA’s ‘holistic review’ admissions process, which considers factors such as an applicant’s neighborhood/zip code, family income, and school profile—and invites the disclosure of an applicant’s race via personal statements—is a transparent attempt to engage in race-based admissions in all but name,” reads a section of the letter from Acting Division Director Lisa Scott-Morning of the NSF’s Division of Grants and Agreements, which also claimed that the university had not done enough to combat antisemitism.

“UCLA’s own Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias at UCLA revealed that Jewish students, faculty, and staff were subjected to threats, assaults, swastika graffiti, and hostile slogans during the 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment,” she said. 

“The above incidents are antithetical to the safe and welcoming environment necessary for effective research, for which UCLA receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funds through NSF grants.”