A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit by the AAUP and AFT challenging the Trump administration’s suspension of roughly $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University. The three-judge panel ruled the case was moot after faculty unions sought dismissal of their own appeal. The dispute began in March 2025 when the government suspended funding and demanded policy changes tied to academic autonomy, with Columbia not named as a party. A federal judge previously rejected the unions’ case for lack of standing, and the unions had appealed immediately after that ruling. By June, Columbia struck an agreement with the administration to restore most of the suspended funding, including a $221 million payment and an admissions-data handover, along with other program review demands beginning with Middle East–focused areas. The dismissal leaves the underlying governance and autonomy questions unresolved in court for now.