Judge says DOGE grant terminations are unlawful and 'troubling'

A federal judge has delivered yet another damning indictment of the Department of Government Efficiency, exposing what appears to be a systematic effort to erase the histories, contributions, and voices of anyone who isn't a white man. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk's DOGE "blatantly used" race, gender, and other protected characteristics to execute the largest mass termination of federal grants in the history of the National Endowment for the Humanities,  a ruling that confirms what marginalized communities have long suspected about the agency's true agenda.

The judge's findings paint a disturbing picture of discrimination dressed up as efficiency. Judge McMahon directly rebuked DOGE's methodology, writing that "there can be no serious dispute that the review process implemented by DOGE did not conform to, or even resemble, NEH's ordinary grant-review process." Her ruling exposes how DOGE staffers used ChatGPT and DEI keywords to mass-cut funding, targeting anything that acknowledged the existence of non-white, non-male Americans.

The scope of erasure is staggering. As Judge McMahon wrote, "Treating Black civil-rights history, Jewish testimony about the Holocaust, the oft-forgotten Asian American experience, the shameful treatment of the children of Native tribes, or the mere mention of a woman as a marker of lack of merit or wastefulness is not lawful." Even Holocaust survivors weren't safe, DOGE specifically defunded a project because it centered Jewish women's experiences of Nazi persecution. The judge called this "deeply troubling," noting it came "at a time when the specter of antisemitism has reemerged from the shadows."

The depositions reveal the callousness behind the cuts. DOGE staffer Nate Cavanaugh, asked whether he regretted people losing income, replied bluntly: "No. I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit." When pressed on whether they actually reduced the deficit, he admitted: "No, we didn't."

The pattern is unmistakable. Grants were flagged for terms like "DEI, DEIA, Equity, Inclusion, BIPAC, LGBTQ,"  a keyword hit list that functions as a roadmap for who DOGE deems unworthy of being remembered, studied, or heard.

Link: ABC News