A federal judge this week blocked the Trump administration from blanket-cutting or tying future grants to the University of California without notice or hearings. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the Department of Justice and other agencies from withholding funds or demanding payouts tied to civil-rights probes of UCLA and the wider UC system. The order responds to federal freezes of research dollars by NIH, NSF and DOE after investigations into campus unrest and alleged discrimination. Lin’s opinion cites declarations from faculty, unions and staff and characterizes agency conduct as coercive and procedurally flawed. The ruling restores most frozen awards and stops the administration from enforcing penalties until further judicial process. UC officials, who warned the fines threatened the system’s viability, remain in settlement talks but now have time to pursue grants and contracts without immediate funding retaliation. Clarification: The injunction is preliminary and could be appealed; it halts agency enforcement actions that lack the notice-and-hearing process required under Title VI and related statutes.