Democratic attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia asked a federal appeals court on Monday to uphold a ruling that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it froze research funding for Harvard University amid a dispute over campus antisemitism.
“The amicus brief is focused on the public benefit of research institutions and the significant harms caused by federal attacks on such research,” Mike Faulk, deputy communications director for the Washington state attorney general’s office, told JNS.
Faulk said that while these states agree with the court’s decision that the Trump administration “acted unlawfully in freezing funds to Harvard,” the brief “does not address the merits of the federal government’s position regarding events at Harvard.”
Kimberly Bush, director of the office of public information and education for Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel, told JNS that “the amicus brief argues that Harvard, like any university, should be able to handle its own internal issues without the threat of funding cuts or other interference from the federal administration. Research universities are critical to state economies and Michigan’s universities have not been immune from the Trump administration’s overreach.”
“The attorney general believes it is deplorable that this administration would hold medical research funding hostage in the name of fighting antisemitism,” Bush told JNS. “Doing so is equally counterproductive for both the Jewish community and our nation’s residents who rely on this work to create medical advancements for everything from the treatment of pediatric cancer to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s.”
The brief argues that research funding freezes threaten jobs, scientific advances and state economies. It does not mention antisemitism on campus.
Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center, told JNS that “in recent years, state attorneys general have increasingly been piling onto one another’s amicus briefs in a partisan manner.”
“The number of attorneys general who sign on is often simply a function of the number of attorneys general who are members of the political party opposed to the president,” Marcus said. “In this case, it would have been much better for these states, instead of investing resources in opposing the federal government’s civil rights enforcement efforts, to focus on putting their own houses in order in advance of the start of a new school year.”
Massachusetts led the filing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The coalition includes Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison. Vermont and Nevada, which have Republican governors and Democratic attorneys general, joined the brief.
Nevada attorney general Aaron Ford, a Democrat, is running for governor, seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. (JNS sought comment from Lombardo.)
