{"id":7254,"date":"2025-11-14T09:23:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/?p=7254"},"modified":"2025-11-14T09:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:23:12","slug":"universities-of-wisconsin-litigation-update-november-11-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/2025\/11\/14\/universities-of-wisconsin-litigation-update-november-11-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Universities of Wisconsin Litigation Update &#8211; November 11, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the beginning of the year, the Universities of Wisconsin has been reviewing federal legislative actions, regulatory changes, and Presidential executive orders. Some of our work has been to coordinate outreach and action on those issues affecting our UW universities<strong>. <\/strong>Here\u2019s an update to the work the Universities of Wisconsin has been doing specifically on federally funded projects and litigation. Go to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/federal-updates\/\">Federal Updates website<\/a> for additional information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Federally Funded Project Terminations, Delay, and Action <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since January 2025, the Trump Administration has issued several directives to federal agencies that resulted in the wrongful termination of approved, federally funded projects at Universities of Wisconsin that support our collective missions and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wisconsin_Idea\">Wisconsin Idea<\/a>. In addition, several federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, have delayed grant application reviews and attempted to drastically cut overhead payments for critical research.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Litigation Action on Federal Directives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To date, Wisconsin has joined the following multi-state lawsuits to fight unlawful impacts to the Universities of Wisconsin, and in some cases, submitted declarations in suits brought by partners in higher education. Some lawsuits have resulted in court orders that block the federal government from executing these directives until further legal judgement can be reached:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Washington, et al. v. Department of Education (Western District of Washington, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/70679500\/state-of-washington-v-united-states-department-of-education\/\">Case No. 2:25-cv-01228<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 6\/30\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging Department of Education\u2019s non-continuation of MHSP and SBMH grants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>New Jersey v. OMB (District of Massachusetts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/70622367\/state-of-new-jersey-v-us-office-of-management-and-budget\/\">Case No. 1:25-CV-11816<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 6\/24\/25 <\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case seeking a ruling that a change in \u201cagency priorities\u201d is not a sufficient basis under the Uniform Guidance to terminate grants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>AAU, et al. v. Department of Defense (District of Massachusetts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/70552058\/association-of-american-universities-v-department-of-defense\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-11740<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 6\/16\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Association-led case challenging DOD\u2019s cap on indirect cost recovery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><em>\u00a0<\/em>New York v. National Science Foundation (Southern District of New York <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/70390972\/state-of-new-york-v-national-science-foundation\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-04452<\/a>) &#8211; <em>filed 5\/28\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging NSF\u2019s cap on indirect cost recovery and award terminations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\"><\/li>\n<li>AAU v. National Science Foundation (District of Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/70143919\/association-of-american-universities-v-national-science-foundation\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-11231<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 5\/5\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Association-led case challenging NSF\u2019s cap on indirect cost recovery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>New York v. Kennedy (District of Rhode Island <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/70134295\/state-of-new-york-v-kennedy\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-00196<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 5\/5\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging the dismantling of HHS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>ACLS, et. al. v. McDonald (Southern District of New York <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/70035052\/american-council-of-learned-societies-v-mcdonald\/\">Case No: 1:25-cv-03657<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 5\/1\/2025<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Association-led case to stop the dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Maryland v. Corporation for National and Community Service, <em>operating as AmeriCorps<\/em> (District of Maryland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69978631\/state-of-maryland-v-corporation-for-national-and-community-service\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-01363<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 4\/29\/24<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging the dismantling of AmeriCorps<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>AAU v. Dept. of Energy (District of Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69887783\/association-of-american-universities-v-department-of-energy\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-10912-ADB<\/a>) \u2013\u00a0<em>filed 4\/14\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>AAU-led case challenging DOE\u2019s 15% cap on indirect cost recovery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Mass. v. HHS (District of Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69843493\/commonwealth-of-massachusetts-v-kennedy-jr\/\">Case No. 25-cv-10814<\/a>) \u2013\u00a0<em>filed 4\/4\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging NIH grant terminations and NIH delays in the grant-awarding process<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Rhode Island v. Trump (District of Rhode Island <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69844582\/state-of-rhode-island-v-trump\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-00128<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 4\/4\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging the dismantling of Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Colorado v. HHS (District of Rhode Island <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69829000\/state-of-colorado-v-us-department-of-health-and-human-services\/\">Case No. 25-cv-00121<\/a>) \u2013\u00a0<em>filed 4\/1\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging HHS terminations of COVID-19 related grants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>New York v. McMahon (District of Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69732750\/state-of-new-york-v-mcmahon\/\">Case No. 1:25-cv-10601<\/a>) \u2013 <em>filed 3\/13\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging the dismantling of the Department of Education<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>California v. Dept. of Education (District of Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69711499\/state-of-california-v-us-department-of-education\/\">Case No. 25-cv-10548<\/a>) \u2013\u00a0<em>filed 3\/6\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging U.S. Dept. of Education termination of TQP and SEED grants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>AAU v. NIH (District of Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69871270\/association-of-american-universities-v-department-of-health-and-human\/\">Case No. 25-cv-10346<\/a>) \u2013\u00a0<em>filed 2\/10\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>AAU case challenging NIH\u2019s proposal to reduce indirect cost rate to 15%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Mass. v. NIH (District of Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69625055\/commonwealth-of-massachusetts\/\">Case No. 25-cv-10338<\/a>) \u2013\u00a0<em>filed 2\/10\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging NIH\u2019s proposal to reduce indirect cost rate to 15%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>New York v. Trump (District of Rhode Island <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69720767\/state-of-new-york-v-trump\/\">Case No. 25-cv-00039<\/a>) \u2013\u00a0<em>filed 1\/28\/25<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-state case challenging the OMB \u201cfunding freeze\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the beginning of the year, the Universities of Wisconsin has been reviewing federal legislative actions, regulatory changes, and Presidential executive orders. Some of our work has been to coordinate outreach and action on those issues affecting our UW universities. Here\u2019s an update to the work the Universities of Wisconsin has been doing specifically on [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2368,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-uw-communication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2368"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7256,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254\/revisions\/7256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/government-relations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}