A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from using civil‑rights probes to withhold research grants from the University of California system. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin found the administration’s actions likely unconstitutional and described a pattern of investigations followed by abrupt grant cancellations. The ruling bars the feds from conditioning UC funding on measures that would chill speech or cut grants without proper administrative process. The decision follows the administration’s move earlier this year to freeze hundreds of millions in UCLA research funding and to press institutions for policy changes tied to enforcement actions. At the same time some universities negotiated expedited settlements or deals with the administration to restore grants; scientists who accepted those arrangements are now returning to their labs amid debate about academic independence. Legal and research communities will watch the case as it proceeds, since it could reframe limits on federal leverage over campus speech and grants.