National Jewish Advocacy Center Files Amicus Brief Backing Trump Admin Against Harvard’s Funding Suit

Two Jewish advocacy groups filed amicus briefs this week in the Trump administration’s legal clash with Harvard, which has sued 11 federal agencies for freezing nearly $3 billion in research funding.

The National Jewish Advocacy Center filed a brief on Wednesday siding with the Trump administration and challenging Harvard’s argument that the funding cuts violated its First Amendment rights. The nonprofit’s brief argued that the federal government was simply deciding not to fund an institution it had deemed discriminatory — not infringing on Harvard’s free speech rights.

“No institution is simply entitled to billions of taxpayer dollars,” the brief read. “The federal government, for good reason, does not believe that Harvard is adequately protecting Jewish members of its community and does not want to support this obnoxious facade.”

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law — which sued Harvard in May 2024 for allegedly allowing antisemitism to fester on campus — filed a more narrowly focused brief on Monday, asking the court to reject three amicus briefs supporting Harvard in the case.

The Brandeis Center took issue with the briefs because they contested the University’s use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which was adopted as part of a settlement in the Brandeis Center’s suit against Harvard. The group argued that the briefs mischaracterize the IHRA antisemitism definition, writing that the definition does not “punish or chill speech” or strictly define Jewish identity.

The IHRA definition includes examples that classify certain criticisms of Israel, including describing it as a “racist endeavor” or comparing its current policies to those of the Nazis, as antisemitic.

One of the groups named by the Brandeis Center, Jewish Voice for Peace, argued in its brief that the IHRA definition makes support for Israel necessary to being Jewish — thus describing Jews who think otherwise as by definition antisemitic.

Twenty-seven scholars of Jewish studies, whose brief was also singled out by the Brandeis Center, argued in their filing that equating antisemitism with anti-Zionism could silence Jewish voices that are critical of Israel.

The third brief noted by the Brandeis Center was submitted by the Middle East Studies Association of North America.

Harvard has had a complicated relationship with the Brandeis Center. Though the group sued the University and filed an amicus brief backing the Trump administration, it was also granted financial support and space from Harvard to host an annual campus event on antisemitism for the next three years. The commitment came as one of the many recommendations made by the University’s task force on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias.

Both the Brandeis Center and the National Jewish Advocacy Center have been especially high-profile litigants fighting what they say is rampant antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The Brandeis Center has also sued other universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, and MIT, over antisemitism complaints.

And the NJAC has sued groups including the Associated Press, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the American chapter of UNRWA, the United Nations agency that works with Palestinian refugees, accusing them of supporting Hamas’ attacks.

The amicus briefs this week came as Harvard’s lawsuit enters its third month. The University first sued the Trump administration in April after the Trump administration cut or announced plans to cut billions of dollars in federal funding to the University. Lawyers for Harvard amended the lawsuit in May to name two more federal agencies and cover additional federal grants that had been cut from Washington.

The briefs filed this week come just days after a cohort of 16 Republican-led states requested to file another amicus brief against Harvard. The states’ brief contested Harvard’s argument that the funding pauses were retaliatory, suggesting they were instead a fair punishment for permitting antisemitism on campus.

But there has also been a flood of amicus briefs — filed by groups spanning across the ideological spectrum — supporting Harvard in its lawsuit against the Trump administration. Two dozen universities, 21 states, more than 12,000 alumni, and several civil liberties groups have all filed briefs backing the University’s case against the administration. Scholars of the Middle East, former federal officials, and major higher education organizations have also filed briefs.

Though the briefs backing Harvard have varied in their messaging, they have largely focused on the argument that the federal government is unlawfully withholding funds as leverage to force Harvard to curtail speech and protest.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.