We’re proud of this important victory for writers and scholars. The Authors Guild Foundation is grateful to our supporters, whose generosity helps make advocacy like this possible.
⚖️ We sued the administration, and we won back $100 million in grants for scholars and authors. Last week, a federal court ruled in our favor on every count in our case against DOGE and the NEH, ordering the reinstatement of all 1,400+ grants that were abruptly canceled last April. Our suit was consolidated with a parallel case brought by the Modern Language Association, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), and the American Historical Association. Because ours was structured as a class action, the ruling covers all affected grantees, not just named plaintiffs. During discovery, we learned: 🤖 A DOGE official used ChatGPT to generate "DEI rationales" for termination, submitting thousands of grant descriptions with a single prompt, without defining the term or understanding how it worked. 🚩 Studies of ancient Jewish texts, the persecution of Uyghurs in China, and American women in Paris were all flagged as DEI. The NEH's own acting chair told DOGE the rationales "mischaracterized" the grants. He was overruled. Judge Colleen McMahon was unequivocal: Congress conferred no authority on DOGE to terminate NEH grants. The cancellations also violated the First Amendment and equal protection. "Writers and scholars had structured their lives around these awards — taking leaves of absence, giving up other income, making commitments — because the government had entered into a legally binding obligation," said Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger. "That obligation must be honored." Grateful to our legal team at Fairmark Partners, LLP.