'Not optional or negotiable': Judge excoriates Trump admin for repeatedly 'refusing to comply' with discovery and court orders in humanities grant-funding lawsuit

A national tribunal successful Manhattan chided the Trump administration connected Thursday for trying to dodge find obligations successful a postulation of consolidated lawsuits implicit terminated assistance awards issued by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

In a 32-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, a Bill Clinton appointee, issued a triumph for the plaintiffs and a nonaccomplishment for the government. The tribunal granted respective motions to compel find filed by the plaintiffs successful 2 consolidated cases and overruled a bid of objections lodged by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The ruling takes the Trump medication to task for its discovery-related behaviour truthful acold and warns the authorities that find violations going guardant could effect successful punishment.

"The Court reminds the parties that compliance with find obligations 'is not optional oregon negotiable,'" the sentiment reads. "It is besides well-recognized that '…a territory tribunal has wide discretion successful sanctioning a enactment for find abuses.' The Court volition not hesitate to enforce sanctions should immoderate enactment neglect to comply with its find obligations oregon the Court's find directives."

The underlying litigation began successful May, erstwhile respective "preeminent" humanities associations filed a lawsuit against the bureau for rescinding "hundreds of millions of dollars" successful grants for projects and probe – funds appropriated by Congress for specified purposes. Days later, a guild specifically representing authors affected by the assistance rescissions filed a abstracted lawsuit on overmuch the aforesaid terms.

In sum, the plaintiffs alleged a myriad of law and statutory violations – including claims that the NEH had violated the First Amendment, acted successful excess of immoderate cognizable powerfulness and authority, and serially ran afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the national instrumentality governing the behaviour of administrative agencies.

The lawsuits were past joined.

Motions signifier connected find issues began successful earnest implicit the summertime but rapidly took a crook toward the melodramatic erstwhile the DOJ suggested a decidedly constricted scope of discovery.

The plaintiffs powerfully opposed that idea.

In a terse endorsement, the justice agreed.

"The authorities is NOT close that this is simply a lawsuit successful which we are constricted to the administrative record," a September docket introduction reads. "It is chiefly (though not exclusively) a archetypal amendment lawsuit, arsenic to which find is wholly appropriate."

More back-and-forth motions ensued for months arsenic the plaintiffs tried, and failed, to get authorities officials connected the record.

Earlier this month, 1 radical of plaintiffs filed a letter question to compel. The filing complains of repetition find violations and alleges the NEH has violated a tribunal bid meant to effectuate find compliance.

The missive question reads, successful applicable part:

Plaintiffs … taxable this missive to notify and question alleviation from the Court regarding Defendants' refusal to comply with the Court's orders regarding discovery. This Court ordered months agone that the grounds successful this substance would not beryllium constricted to an administrative grounds and that [humanities association] Plaintiffs would beryllium permitted to instrumentality afloat find arsenic applicable to their law claims. And yet, Defendants proceed to importune that they presumptively request not nutrient records oregon accusation beyond the administrative record, and Defendants are refusing to enactment successful modular find of the named Defendants.

In a corresponding memorandum of law successful enactment of the question to compel, the plaintiffs restate their allegations successful elemental terms.

"The Government is refusing to comply with this Court's directives regarding the Administrative Record and discovery," the memo reads.

To perceive the plaintiffs archer it, they request to depose respective members of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the NEH. Additionally, the plaintiffs importune the authorities has been unwilling to execute applicable papers searches astatine different implicated agencies. Finally, the plaintiffs allege the administrative grounds is acold from complete.

In existent terms, the plaintiffs allege the authorities has provided a full of "27 NEH" documents and is resisting providing thing more.

In her Thursday order, McMahon rubbished the thought that the magnitude of documents the authorities provided would fulfill the find needed successful the case.

"Where the grounds itself shows that the materials considered by those who made the determination person not been produced, judicial reappraisal cannot proceed connected the 'whole record' arsenic required by the APA," the justice explained. "As successful [the applicable lawsuit law], the occupation for the Government lies successful the information that the administrative record, arsenic presently designated, does not bespeak 'all documents and materials straight oregon indirectly considered' successful transportation with the cancellation of 1,400 grants."

The justice goes connected similar this, astatine length:

Whether the existent 27-document "administrative record" reflects each documents and materials that Defendants straight oregon indirectly considered is not an enquiry that ends with specified grounds certification. Consistent with [aforementioned lawsuit law], the Court concludes that find beyond the administrative grounds is warranted. The Court cannot meaningfully discharge its work of reappraisal nether the APA by accepting astatine look worth an administrative grounds whose completeness oregon candor is successful genuine doubt.