A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s mass termination of more than 1,400 National Endowment for the Humanities grants was unconstitutional, citing First Amendment violations, equal-protection concerns, and an unauthorized government criterion for cancellations. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the agency to rescind the cuts and found plaintiffs faced irreparable injury, including disruptions to protected expression and ongoing research, cancellations of humanities programming, and a chilling effect. Court documents cited in discovery indicated DOGE officials used ChatGPT to flag grants they believed violated anti-DEI executive orders, with some decisions linked to keywords involving “history,” “culture,” and “identity.” Humanities groups including the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association of America had sued, framing the cuts as lacking statutory authority and viewpoint discrimination; the decision puts restoration steps back in focus for NEH programs nationwide.