May 2025

3 entries from May 2025.

Supreme Court 7-2 stayed injunction blocking CHNV parole termination, enabling DHS to revoke status for 532,000 noncitizens

On May 30, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency application to stay a federal injunction, allowing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to proceed with terminating humanitarian parole for more than 532,000 noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela admitted under the Biden-era CHNV programs. The unsigned 7-2 order — with Justices Jackson and Sotomayor dissenting — cleared the way to revoke parole status without the individualized case-by-case review that the district court's injunction had required. Justice Jackson wrote that the majority had "plainly botched" the ruling and decried the "devastating consequences" of upending the lives of nearly half a million people while their legal claims remained pending.

GSA directed all federal agencies to cancel ~$100M in Harvard operating contracts, escalating political retaliation campaign

On May 27, 2025, the General Services Administration sent a letter to all federal agencies directing them to identify and cancel remaining contracts with Harvard University — approximately 30 contracts worth an estimated $100 million — and to seek alternative vendors for future services. The directive escalated the administration's retaliatory campaign against Harvard, which had publicly refused White House demands to alter its hiring, admissions, and governance practices. The contract-cancellation mechanism targeted operating agreements distinct from the $2.6 billion in research grants already frozen or cancelled since April 2025.

Deputy AG Blanche directed DOJ to weaponize False Claims Act against federal grantees maintaining DEI and trans-inclusive policies

On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum establishing the DOJ Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, directing attorneys across the Civil Division's Fraud Section and the Civil Rights Division to pursue False Claims Act cases against any federal grantee — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — that maintains DEI programs or transgender-inclusive policies while certifying compliance with federal civil rights laws. The initiative identifies diversity programs, single-sex bathroom policies, and women's sports participation standards as triggering FCA liability, and invites private whistleblower lawsuits seeking treble damages. It converts a procurement-fraud statute into an ideological enforcement mechanism against institutions dependent on federal funding.