Judge issues temporary injunction against Trump administration cancellation of humanities grants
Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York stayed the mass cancellations of grants previously awarded to guild members and ordered that any funds associated with the grants not be reobligated until a trial on the merits of the case is held.
In reaching her decision, the judge said the 'defendants terminated the grants based on the recipients' perceived viewpoint, in an effort to drive such views out of the marketplace of ideas. This is most evident by the citation in the Termination Notices to executive orders purporting to combat 'Radical Indoctrination' and 'Radical … DEI Programs,' and to further 'Biological Truth.''
One of the grants was to a professor writing a book on the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s and 1980s. On a spreadsheet entitled 'Copy of NEH Active Grants,' the government flagged the work as being connected to diversity, equality and inclusion efforts, McMahon wrote.
The judge said several other history projects on the spreadsheet were also canceled in part because of their connection to DEI-related subjects.
'Far be it from this Court to deny the right of the Administration to focus NEH priorities on American history and exceptionalism as the year of our semiquincentennial approaches,' McMahon said. 'Such refocusing is ordinarily a matter of agency discretion. But agency discretion does not include discretion to violate the First Amendment. Nor does not give the Government the right to edit history.'
McMahon said some of the grantees lost grants simply because they had received them during the Biden administration.
The Guild filed a class action lawsuit in May against the NEH and the Department of Government Efficiency for terminating grants that had already been appropriated by Congress.
The humanities groups' lawsuit said DOGE brought the core work of the humanities councils 'to a screeching halt' this spring when it terminated its grant program.
The filing is the most recent lawsuit filed by humanities groups and historical, research and library associations to try to stop funding cuts and the dissolution of federal agencies and organizations.
McMahon noted her injunction is narrowly tailored 'to maintain the status quo until we can decide whether Plaintiffs are entitled to ultimate relief. It does nothing more.'
The judge denied a temporary injunction request from the American Council of Learned Societies, as well as several of their claims in the lawsuit. Their case included the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association.
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Edinburgh Reporter
an hour ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Fringe 2025: #Charlottesville ⭐⭐⭐
At 1.45pm on 12 August 2017 white supremacist James Alex Fields Jnr deliberately drove his car into a crowd of people who had been protesting against a Unite the Right rally in a Charlottesville park. Many people were injured; 32 year old Heather Heyer was killed. 'Everything was flying through the air. People were flying, shoes. The sound of metal on people, metal on metal.' The crime had been preceded by two days of confrontations, many of them violent, between various alt-right groups (one of whose leaders had obtained a permit to hold the 12 August rally), counter protesters and the police. The initial spark for the protest had been the plan to remove the city's statue of Thomas Jefferson, but the alt-right swiftly expanded the scope of the rally to cover its hatred of non-white people, immigrants, Jews, the LGBT+ community, and women who didn't stay at home 'honouring' their men. During the protests two state troopers also died. In 2017 Priyanka Shetty, an Indian student, was enrolled on a Master of Fine Arts and Acting course at the University of Virginia. She decided to investigate the events of those two days, and the people behind them. Having looked at numerous far right websites and social media, and dug around in the murky depths of the Dark Web, Shetty wanted to talk to Charlottesville residents about their thoughts on the city, its people, and what they remembered about those two days in August. The University of Virginia did not authorise her investigation. Based on her findings, Shetty has written a partly verbatim show; #Charlottesville premiered at The Keegan Theatre in Washington DC, and now it has come to the Pleasance Courtyard. The names of the people Shetty quotes are projected onto the back wall of Pleasance Bunker Two. They include a Peace Corps Recruiter, a musician, an undergraduate, a waitress, a Conservative radio host and the Dean of the university. They all love the city, but interestingly, it is only the waitress, Tamra (whose family has lived in Charlottesville since the 18th century) who points out that it consists of pockets of population; each pocket lives in its own bubble, they rarely if ever interact. All of the speakers say the city is friendly, but several refer to simmering interracial tensions. Shetty has also studied the transcript records of the court cases, criminal and civil, that followed the violence. She plays the judge and counsel for both plaintiff and defendants, taking up different positions in the room to differentiate between them. The defendants' argument centres on two crucial points, the first being that the First Amendment protects Americans' right to free speech. Their counsel happily admits that his clients are unpleasant people with highly offensive views – but that it not a crime. His second argument is that Fields was acting alone when he drove into the crowd. He had nothing to do with the others, there was no conspiracy and there is therefore no case to answer. Further interspersed are Shetty's own conversations with Susan, the Chair of her university department. Susan dismisses Shetty's complaints about racist comments made by another class member. Shetty also asks why she has not been cast in either of the department's productions; again she does not receive a satisfactory answer, but is instead fobbed off with the offer of a role in a community production. 'It will be a lifelong struggle for you and there's nothing I can do about that.' Shetty has researched the alt-right groups involved in the events of 11/12 August in depth. Again she uses projected images to profile the ringleaders while she quotes their words. I did find this part of the show a little confusing, as Shetty seemed to jump from one alt-right person to another, then back to the residents, then back to the courtroom scenes, very quickly at times so that I was not entirely sure who was saying what or indeed who belonged to which organisation. The voices of Kevin, the musician, and of the somewhat pompous counsel for the defence in court, were clearly differentiated and identifiable, but most of the women Shetty had chatted to sounded more or less the same to me. It was also, unfortunately, sometimes difficult to see the words projected on the wall. It's likely that this would work much better in a more traditional theatre, where all audience members are facing one way. In the Bunker people are sitting round three sides of a square, and the side seats are not best placed to see the projections. The Charlottesville residents are also asked for their recollections of the violence. They describe the lit torches the protestors held; the air being 'thick with Kerosene,' There was constant chanting, 'You will not replace us!' They watched as counter protesters were beaten. Shetty draws parallels between the increasing hard line racism in the US, the personal racism she encountered in her department, and the failure of President Trump to condemn the white supremacists in Charlottesville. She does an excellent and very funny impression of the President, who notoriously first stated that 'there were very fine people on both sides in Charlottesville', then immediately attempted to divert attention to his claims that the country was 'doing very well.' But although this scene brings some welcome light humour to the show, its content is of course frightening. Shetty shows pictures of Trump and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embracing; India too is experiencing a shift to the right and towards an authoritarian style of government. Modi has even started saying 'Make India Great Again.' Another celebrated democracy is threatened. Just when we might feel bogged down in all the political and legal facts, Shetty reminds us that a young woman died on 12 August. Heather Heyer's mother describes in agonising detail her desperate attempts to find out what has happened to her daughter; the phone calls to all the hospitals, the journey into town. Waiting for her husband to arrive, then finding that the hospital has already moved Heather's body. Heather's parents did not see her until the day before her funeral, 'It's like an amputation. You can survive it, you can adapt, but you're still an amputee.' It's not just about placards and shouting. Real people, fellow human beings, are being attacked, injured and sometimes killed. A favourite quote of Heather's was, 'If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.' Very few people were paying attention before 11 August 2017. Are we paying more attention now? Are we outraged, or are we complacent in the rise of fascism in the US and on our own doorsteps? #Charlottesville is a thought-provoking show and Shetty is an accomplished actor. For me there were perhaps too many different threads to manage within the short time constraints of a Fringe show, and I wonder if the court scenes could be abbreviated or cut to allow more time to hear the people's voices. Courts can only do so much, especially in the US where many judges are political appointees. In the end it is the people who need to take a stand against the rise of white supremacy in all its forms, to wake up and pay attention before it's too late. #Charlottesville is at Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker Two), 60 Pleasance (Venue 33) at 12.20pm every day until 25 August. Please note: there is no show on Wednesday 13 August. Like this: Like Related
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
The #MeToo campaign leader using the Epstein scandal to champion victims: ‘The survivors are the heroes'
The swirling political drama around late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his jailed accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and the mixed verdicts in recent Harvey Weinstein and Sean Puffy Combs trials, have raised questions around the health of the #MeToo social movement and its emphasis on raising awareness about sexual harassment. There are fears of a backlash to the testimonies and experiences of victim and survivors of sexual violence and a lessening of the will to hold perpetrators to account. But one person determined to keep survivors of sexual violence firmly at the forefront of public debate around the Epstein saga is former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who received a $20m settlement from 21st Century Fox in 2016 to resolve a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. 'The survivors are the heroes in this [Epstein] case because there would be no case without them and their courage and bravery in speaking up,' Carlson told the Guardian last week. Carlson, together with Julie Roginsky, who settled with Fox over claims she was denied a promotion after she refused Ailes, are now heading a pressure group, Lift Our Voices. The group aims to overturn legally binding non-disclosure agreements that prevent employees from speaking out on their experiences in the workplace, as neither Carlson nor Roginsky were able to do under settlement-attached NDAs they too signed. 'We aim to continue lifting [survivors] up and letting them know that we are here to support them,' Carlson said. It's a mission that has become particularly acute in recent days as an effort by Maxwell to win a sentence commutation or sentence reduction on her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges. Remarkable in the ongoing controversy is the absence of young women who made allegations against Maxwell and Epstein and were in most instances paid out under an Epstein estate victims' compensation fund. The settlements, which amount to $121m to around 150 survivors, came with a release to not to pursue future legal claims but permitted them to participate in criminal investigations and to share their stories publicly. Carlson and Roginsky acknowledge that, even as powerful professional, adult women when they came forward, the balance of power was tipped in favor of the man they were accusing. Almost a decade later, there is little expectation that Epstein-Maxwell survivors will want to expose themselves while a political storm rages. On Thursday, the family of Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, called on Donald Trump to resist pardoning Maxwell, calling her a 'monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life'. Still, Roginsky says, the accounts of women used to be swept under the rug. 'The very fact that these survivors are believed is already a massive development in the way our culture treats these kinds of cases and reports.' Adds Carlson: 'Nobody is saying we don't believe these people, and we have to see their faces and hear their voices to believe them, or to prove this story actually existed, and that is a huge step forward as well as a victory for the movement. 'People want information about this [Epstein-Maxwell] story but they're not demanding that survivors come forward in order for it to be true,' Carlson adds. Behind the scenes Lift our Voices has championed federal legislation to make it easier for claimants to come forward. In 2022, congress passed the Ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA) which gave employees the right to take their claims to court instead of secret arbitration. Another federal law, known as the Speak Out Act, means claimants are no longer bound by a pre-dispute NDA or non-disparagement agreements if they have experienced sexual harassment or assault at work. But the jury verdicts in both the second Weinstein trial, brought after the movie moguls first conviction on sexual assault charges was thrown on appeal and succeeded in one out of three charges, and the Combs case, in which prosecutors failed to prove racketeering but succeeded on two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, indicate that jurors, at least, are sending mixed signals to advocates for survivors of sexual violence. But Roginsky and Carlson are not deterred or deflated. 'Harvey Weinstein was found guilty and will be spending many more years in prison, so from that perspective it was a success,' says Roginsky. 'Sean Combs was also found guilty and will also be spending time in prison.' Carlson and Roginsky laud the testimony of Cassie Ventura, Combs' former girlfriend who, heavily pregnant, spent days on the stand walking jurors through her experience. 'She's been held up largely as a hero and an inspiration to many other women,' Roginsky says. 'So these are not set backs, this is more evidence that the movement is not going away, moving forward, holding perpetrators accountable, and giving survivors space and respect to tell their stories,' she adds. Carlson points out that movements to change a culture are rarely a straight line of constant successes. 'But that doesn't mean there hasn't been significant change. We have to look at this globally and not in black-and-white,' she said. But as demands for more information on the Epstein-Maxwell sex trafficking conspiracy mount, both Carlson and Roginsky are doubtful that this information should come from Maxwell or the victims of the conspiracy. 'We don't need Maxwell to tell the world what happened, especially a woman who is a known liar and somebody that I think we all understand will say whatever it takes to get out of prison even if that means protecting certain high-powered people who may not need to be protected,' says Roginsky. But fundamentally, adds Carlson, the will-she won't-she daily Maxwell show is a sideshow. 'This has nothing to do with the survivors. This is an abstraction for the Trump administration to be able to say look over here, not over there. 'It's preposterous that there would be any discussion over Maxwell getting any kind of a pardon,' she says. 'The fact that the President of the United States cannot say absolutely not to the most prolific child sex trafficker in a generation, besides Epstein, is a disgrace.' Trump told reporters last week that while he was allowed to issue a pardon or clemency to Maxwell 'it's something I have not thought about.' But the political consequences of that move, Carlson predicts, would be severe. She said: 'There would be an insurrection if that happens, and it wouldn't just be from the left or the center, it would also be from the right, because Maga is behind wanting more information, ironically. It's brought Maga, the middle and the Democrats together. The survivors should even be in the equation on this.'
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
The vast majority of US adults are stressed about grocery costs, an AP-NORC poll finds
The vast majority of U.S. adults are at least somewhat stressed about the cost of groceries, a new poll finds, as prices continue to rise and concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump 's tariffs remain widespread. About half of all Americans say the cost of groceries is a 'major' source of stress in their life right now, while 33% say it's a 'minor' source of stress, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only 14% say it's not a source of stress, underscoring the pervasive anxiety most Americans continue to feel about the cost of everyday essentials. Other financial stressors — like the cost of housing or the amount of money in their bank accounts — are also broadly felt, but they weigh more heavily on younger Americans, who are less likely than older adults to have significant savings or own property. The survey also found that about 4 in 10 Americans under age 45 say they've used what are known as 'buy now, pay later' services when spending on entertainment or restaurant meals or when paying for essentials like groceries or medical care. Adam Bush, 19, based in Portland, New York, is one of those younger Americans who has used pay-later services for things like groceries or entertainment. Bush works as a welder, fabricating parts for trucks for Toyota, and makes under $50,000 per year. 'I just keep watching the prices go up, so I'm looking for the cheapest possible stuff,' he said. 'Hot pockets and TV dinners.' Everyone is stressed about groceries Groceries are one of the most far-reaching financial stressors, affecting the young and old alike, the poll finds. While Americans over age 60 are less likely than younger people to feel major financial anxiety about housing, their savings, child care, or credit card debt, they are just as worried about the cost of groceries. Esther Bland, 78, who lives in Buckley, Washington, said groceries are a 'minor' source of stress — but only because her local food banks fill the gap. Bland relies on her Social Security and disability payments each month to cover her rent and other expenses — such as veterinary care for her dogs — in retirement, after decades working in an office processing product orders. 'I have no savings,' she said. 'I'm not sure what's going on politically when it comes to the food banks, but if I lost that, groceries would absolutely be a major source of stress.' Bland's monthly income mainly goes toward her electric, water and cable bills, she said, as well as care of her dogs and other household needs. 'Soap, paper towels, toilet paper. I buy gas at Costco, but we haven't seen $3 a gallon here in a long time,' she said. 'I stay home a lot. I only put about 50 miles on my car a week.' According to the poll, 64% of the lowest-income Americans — those who have a household income of less than $30,000 a year — say the cost of groceries is a 'major' stressor. That's compared with about 4 in 10 Americans who have a household income of $100,000 or more. But even within that higher-income group, only about 2 in 10 say grocery costs aren't a worry at all. Women and Hispanic adults are especially economically anxious Housing is another substantial source of worry for U.S. adults — along with their savings, their income and the cost of health care. About half of U.S. adults say housing is a 'major' source of stress, according to the poll, while about 4 in 10 say that about the amount of money they get paid, the amount of money they have saved and the cost of health care. About 3 in 10 say credit card debt is a 'major' source of stress, while about 2 in 10 say that about the cost of child care and student debt. But some groups are feeling much more anxiety about their finances than others. Women, for instance, are more likely than men to report high levels of stress about their income, savings, the cost of groceries and the cost of health care. Hispanic adults are also particularly concerned about housing costs and both credit card and student debt. About two-thirds of Hispanic adults say the cost of housing is a 'major' source of stress, compared with about half of Black adults and about 4 in 10 white adults. Some people are making changes to their lifestyle as a result of high costs. Shandal LeSure, 43, who works as a receptionist for a rehabilitation hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and makes between $85,000 and $100,000 a year, said she's started shopping for groceries at less expensive stores. 'It's an adjustment,' she said. 'Sometimes the quality isn't as good.' Many US adults have used 'buy now, pay later' services As they stretch limited budgets, about 3 in 10 U.S. adults overall say they've used 'buy now, pay later' services such as Afterpay or Klarna to purchase groceries, entertainment, restaurant meals or meal delivery, or medical or dental care, according to the poll. Bland, the Washington state retiree, said she's paid for pet surgery with a pay-later plan. Younger Americans are much likelier than older people to have used pay-later plans for entertainment, groceries or restaurant meals, but there's no age gap on medical care. Black and Hispanic people are also especially likely to adopt the plans. An increasing share of 'buy now, pay later' customers are having trouble repaying their loans, according to recent disclosures from the lenders. The loans are marketed as a safer alternative to traditional credit cards, but there are risks, including a lack of federal oversight. Some consumer watchdogs also say the plans lead consumers to overextend themselves financially. LeSure said she's used pay-later services for things like new clothes, while she balances debt payments for a car loan, student loans and medical bills. She's also turned to them to cover hotel costs after being evicted. 'That's been able to help me stretch my dollar,' she said. ___ Sanders reported from Washington. ___ The AP-NORC poll of 1,437 adults was conducted July 10-14, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.
