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It’s easy these days to find news of special interest groups and local governments waging legal battles against the Trump administration over the many ways the White House is attempting to reshape the federal government.
But amid a broader and growing conflict between the administration and Harvard University, the city that calls the institution home has just notched a legal win against the White House, according to coverage from The Harvard Crimson.
The administration had attempted to block funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from reaching the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and as many as 30 other localities. It argued that the city had not complied with executive orders to receive funding from the Continuum of Care (CoC) program that infuses local nonprofits with funds to battle homelessness in their communities.
In March, HUD Secretary Scott Turner described HUD’s position on the requirements it seeks for cities interested in the funds. Turner posted a letter on social media platform X that CoC funds “will not promote DEI, enforce ‘gender ideology,’ support abortion, subsidize illegal immigration, and discriminate against faith-based groups,” he said. “HUD will use all available resources to fight homelessness.”
HUD aimed to steer Cambridge and the other impacted cities from incorporating any rules or regulations that supposedly clashed with these stated priorities. But city officials contend that doing so would bring them out of compliance with local laws.
Cambridge City Councillor Patricia M. Nolan told the Crimson that Cambridge’s “Welcoming Community Ordinance” grants everyone “equal treatment regardless of immigration status.” Complying with HUD’s new demands would endanger compliance with the ordinance, so the city joined to maintain access to $6.4 million in previously allocated federal CoC funds.
The funds “support more than a dozen housing and homelessness programs in the city each year,” the report stated. The temporary restraining order (TRO) granted by the judge blocks HUD from withholding the funds “due to the city’s noncompliance with the conditions through June 4, 2025.”
Following the expiration of the order, the parties will argue and the judge will determine whether the withholding of CoC funds may be considered executive overreach or otherwise violates federal law.
“We will be joining others to have that court recognize that this is an inappropriate request from HUD, and we are hoping that it will be completely overturned — not just a temporary restraining order, but that in the court decision it will be made permanent,” Nolan told the Crimson.
The move comes as the White House has escalated its dispute with Harvard, a major driver of the economic engine in Cambridge alongside other prominent higher learning institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week froze $60 million in grants to Harvard. That was the third salvo in an ongoing conflict that has seen the administration freeze more than $2 billion in funds across eight agencies. It served as a response to the university’s resistance to cancelling diversity programs, limiting student protest activity and submitting to new federal auditing requirements.
Last week, the administration said it would freeze another $450 million in federal grants and contracts to the university, accusing Harvard of failing to stem the tide of antisemitic campus activity in response to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The university expanded its legal dispute with the White House in response.
On Tuesday, multiple outlets reported that the Trump administration is planning to cancel the federal government’s remaining federal contracts with Harvard that are worth an estimated $100 million.
