Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked the government’s $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations.
In a Wednesday filing with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Department of Justice lawyers asked judges to dismiss an appeal it filed last month seeking to reverse a lower court decision. The November ruling — a major victory for UC workers who sued — had stalled the fine and a 27-page settlement document outlining administration demands to push the university ideologically rightward.
The proposal called for sweeping changes at UCLA — and by extension all of the UC system — including a ban on diversity-related scholarships, restrictions on foreign student enrollment, a declaration that transgender people do not exist, an end to gender-affirming healthcare for minors, limits on free speech and nearly unfettered sharing of personnel data with the government.
The Trump administration sent the proposal and demand for payment to UC leaders Aug. 8, about 10 days after freezing $584 million in federal research funding for the campus. The government said it suspended the funds because UCLA broke the law by using race as a factor in admissions, recognizing transgender people’s gender identities and not taking antisemitism complaints seriously during pro-Palestinian protests in 2024.
UCLA said it follows the law in regard to all of those things.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-13/trump-drops-appeal-of-court-order-blocking-uc-ucla-settlement
