Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined 20 other attorneys general in supporting Harvard University’s lawsuit challenging the federal government’s freeze of over $2 billion in research funding.
Per the news release distributed on Monday, June 9: “Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, supporting Harvard University’s motion for summary judgment in litigation against a number of federal agencies for their unlawful cancellation of more than $2 billion in federal funding to the university.
“The Trump administration’s attempt to weaponize federal research funding against Harvard University sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the academic freedom essential to scientific progress and innovation,” said Attorney General Brown. “Maryland stands with Harvard and opposes this unprecedented and unlawful attack on academic independence that threatens the integrity of our State’s and nation’s research institutions.”
On April 11, the administration identified a series of demands that Harvard University must satisfy in order to receive federal research funding that had already been committed to the school. Harvard refused to relinquish its academic independence, and the federal government subsequently announced that it was freezing over $2 billion in federal funding to the university.
Harvard has since filed a lawsuit against the administration, and the university is requesting that a judge make an expedited ruling on the merits of the case without a full trial. The brief of the attorneys general supports Harvard in that effort.
In the brief, Attorney General Brown argues that the administration’s punitive and unlawful funding freeze, which poses an unprecedented threat to Harvard, would have devastating spillover effects on the amici states’ economies if their research institutions were targeted in the same way.
Joining Attorney General Brown in submitting this brief are the attorneys general from Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.”
www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov
