The Trump administration has filed an appeal of a federal judge’s October ruling that blocked orders freezing roughly $2.2 billion in Harvard research funding. The original decision by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs found the government’s freeze unlawful and in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights, and she entered final judgment reinstating the university’s funding. The administration’s appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals fulfills its promise to contest the ruling; White House spokespeople say Harvard failed to protect students from harassment, while Harvard calls itself confident in the court’s prior decisions. The dispute stems from federal oversight tied to campus responses to antisemitic incidents and broader demands by the administration for policy changes. Why it matters: the appeal keeps a major research university’s funding and federal-university relations in flux and could set precedent on limits to executive actions that condition research grants on campus speech and conduct policies.