The nonprofit, which lost 44% of its budget in federal cuts, argued Congress was the ultimate authority in funding decisions, not Donald Trump.
A federal judge in Oregon has ruled the White House acted illegally earlier this year when it suddenly cut off funding for state humanities councils.
The ruling was issued in a lawsuit filed last month by Oregon Humanities and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, and joined by the national Federation of State Humanities Councils.
Last week, two days after hearing oral argument in his Portland courtroom, Judge Michael Simon released his 81-page opinion, siding with Oregon Humanities on nearly all its arguments and ordering an injunction against the federal government.
The order does not reinstate more than $200 million in terminated humanities grants but does prevent the federal government from using the money elsewhere.
In his opinion, Simon cited the original legislation establishing the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“My point is a simple one,” Simon wrote, quoting former Rep. William D. Ford from 1968. “The arts and the humanities are not frills, but are crucial to our Nation’s survival and continued freedom.”
Attorneys for the humanities projects argued that spending decisions of this nature should be made by Congress not the president, and that Trump and DOGE violated the Constitutional principle of separation of powers when they abruptly cut off humanities funding.
Attorneys with the federal government argued Trump had authority under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Sean E. Martin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland denied Trump is attempting to dismantle the NEH.
“I think that can be debunked by the fact that NEH is meeting every quarter with its advisory council and is reviewing humanities awards and is granting significant funding across the country to humanities projects,” Martin said in court. “You might disagree about the specifics of how the humanities are being funded through the NEH, but to say it’s being dismantled, and there is no interest in having this agency go forward, I think is not right.”
The federal government can now appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Complicating matters is the fact that — with Trump broadly reshaping the federal government in his second term — dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed around the country. The U.S. Supreme Court could potentially rule on whether district judges like Simon can order a federal agency to pay out funds, or if that kind of case belongs before the Court of Federal Claims.
Shortly after Trump took office in January, NEH reviewed all open grants with the state humanities councils for language including “diversity, equity and inclusion” accommodation or “environmental justice,” according to Simon’s ruling. In early April, billionaire Elon Musk and the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency (not a literal department but an office of the White House) terminated open NEH state grants including $207 million per year to state humanities councils.
In addition, DOGE terminated 65% of NEH staff and significantly restructured the department. The NEH later rescinded the termination of grants not in their final two-year “closeout” period. But many humanities organizations around the country were thrown into turmoil after receiving stable funding from Congress since the 1960s.
Oregon Humanities — which provides humanities programming around the state, including its Conversation Project and Consider This events — saw its budget reduced by 44%.
“The humanities are a critical part of the fabric holding together our nation right now,” attorney Anna Sortun, representing Oregon Humanities, told Judge Simon. “It’s history, language and culture.”
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