A federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration from using a grant-termination clause to cut billions in federal funding, ruling the interpretation was not supported by the rule’s text and would violate constitutional spending requirements. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani granted summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by 23 states, which argued that the Office of Management and Budget and agencies were using an obscure “termination clause” tied to agency priorities to unwind awards tied to areas including crime prevention, food security, and scientific research. Talwani denied the government’s bid to dismiss the case, writing that the agency’s position ran counter to the regulatory scheme and lacked support in rulemaking history. The ruling effectively preserves existing and future grant awards that the states said were at risk. The decision matters for higher education because many universities rely on federal research and student-support grants that could have been terminated mid-cycle under the administration’s asserted authority.