Lead: Researchers face two converging pressures—shrinking, politicized federal funding and legal limits on restoring terminated grants—while universities are urged to tighten industry partnerships. What happened: A legal analysis warns that disputes over terminated federal grants are likely routed to the Court of Federal Claims, where judges lack authority to restore awards, complicating researchers’ remedies. At the same time, commentators and university leaders are calling for deeper Ph.D.–industry partnerships as federal support becomes less predictable. Who’s involved: federal courts, grant recipients, university legal offices, research funders and industry partners. Why it matters: The legal bottleneck reduces the practical remedies for researchers harmed by administrative grant actions; institutions must diversify funding, strengthen contract language, and expand industry collaborations to protect research pipelines and graduate training.