A federal judge restored millions in National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants, ruling the mass cancellation of more than 1,400 previously approved awards unconstitutional. The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon found that the terminations violated First Amendment rights and equal protection under the Fifth Amendment. The litigation involved scholarly organizations including the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association of America. Reporting tied the cancellations to actions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where discovery revealed officials used ChatGPT to flag grants they believed violated the president’s anti-DEI executive orders. The court said the disruption extended beyond money—impacting protected expression, ongoing research and publication, humanities programming, and creating a chilling effect from viewpoint-based criteria. The judge ordered the agency to rescind the cuts and described the injury as irreparable. ACLS president Joy Connolly said the win belongs to scholars, students, institutions, and local organizations whose projects were abruptly disrupted nationwide. The ruling may also influence how federal agencies evaluate grant compliance and how higher education and research institutions assess risks tied to funding stability.