A federal judge has ordered the National Endowment for the Humanities to rescind mass grant terminations, finding the Trump administration’s cuts unconstitutional and tied to a viewpoint-based chilling effect. Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that the terminations of more than 1,400 previously approved grants violated First Amendment protections and equal protection principles. The case described discovery evidence that Department of Government Efficiency staff used ChatGPT to flag grants deemed connected to DEI-related executive orders, including by scanning for keywords such as “history,” “culture,” and “identity.” The ruling also cited disruption of protected expression and interruptions to ongoing research, publications, and humanities programming. Humanities organizations including the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) had sued to stop the terminations, with ACLS President Joy Connolly framing the outcome as a victory for scholars, students, institutions, and state humanities councils.