The federal District Court in the District of Columbia (Paul L. Friedman) has granted a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Education to stop the termination of a grant to the Southern Education Foundation.  SEF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in 1867 to help educate formerly enslaved persons after the Civil War and advocating against the then-lawful segregation in public education.  It has worked to train teachers, provide educational materials, and build schools for formerly enslaved persons and poor whites in the Southern states.

The federal District Court in Massachusetts (Allison D. Burroughs) has granted a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Energy “Policy Flash” which attempts to set a universal cap on indirect overhead funding costs for Institutes of Higher Education on research projects.  The Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, American Council on Education and several public and private universities had sued to stop the policy change from taking effect.

The federal District Court for the District of Columbia (Beryl A. Howell) has ruled that the Trump Administration’s attempt to take over and terminate the activities of the United States Institute of Peace, a separate nonprofit corporation, is void.

USIP was created by Congress in 1984 with bipartisan support to advance the pursuit of peace throughout the world and to promote peaceful conflict resolution without directly involving the U.S. government in foreign disputes.

A federal District Court in the District of Columbia (Christopher R. Cooper) has granted a preliminary injunction against the Department of Justice in favor of the American Bar Association on the ABA’s claim that contracts were terminated in retaliation for the ABA’s participation in lawsuits and free speech criticizing the Administration for undermining the judiciary and legal profession.

The federal District Court in Massachusetts (Allison D. Burroughs) has granted a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security and others to enjoin them from implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving effect to the revocation of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification which allows it to admit foreign students and from giving any force or effect to the Department of Homeland Security’s May 22 Revocation Notice.

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code (the Civil Rights Act of 1866) provides a civil remedy against any person who violates a plaintiff’s federal civil rights while acting “under color of state law.”  A group of church members in Indiana sued another group of church members for violation of such civil rights, but had their complaint dismissed because they couldn’t show that any of the defendants was operating “under color of state law.”

The National Council of Nonprofits, which has been in the forefront of challenging the “pauses” and cutbacks in federal contracts for nonprofit organizations under the Trump Administration, has warned of numerous threats to nonprofits in the Tax Bill being considered by the House of Representatives.  It has urged nonprofits to contact their legislators to oppose new taxes and to support new incentives for charitable giving.