University of California Unions Sue Over Trump Funding Threats

University of California labor unions and associations said in a Tuesday federal lawsuit that the Trump administration is attempting to “coerce” schools to silence the speech of faculty, staff, and students.

The administration, in a series of escalating threats, has implicated billions of dollars in federal funding to try to sway policy at the public university system in a way that “the Trump administration cannot do directly itself,” the lawsuit said.

A recent demand letter the administration sent to the University of California at Los Angeles, “constitutes a proverbial ‘gun to the head’ and crosses the line from mere financial inducement to impermissible coercion, in violation of the Tenth Amendment,” the complaint said.

The Aug. 8 letter asked the system to release control of its curriculum, hiring, and admissions; restrict student protests; end “diversity, equity, and inclusion” measures; renounce acknowledgment of transgender people; and cease gender-inclusive policies and the provision of gender-affirming medical care to minors at UC medical centers, the complaint said. It also sought a $1 billion settlement.

The letter, combined with “pretextual investigations” and cuts to funding, “follow a Trump administration playbook that has already succeeded in undermining free speech and academic freedom in the United States,” the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California said. “The playbook echoes one employed by autocratic movements around the world—be it Hungary, Turkey, or Brazil.”

Threats against UC are part of a broader attack on higher education by the Trump administration that has centered on Harvard University and other elite schools. The administration has used allegations of antisemitism at universities to justify the campaign. A court ruled Sept. 3 that the administration illegally froze $2 million in research funding.

The Tuesday complaint follows a narrower lawsuit brought in the same venue in June by six UC researchers over terminated research grant funding.

A district judge found the cuts were based on research topic viewpoints and ordered a temporary injunction to halt terminations. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the administration’s request to pause the order as the appeal continues.

One third of UC’s annual operating budget—$17 million—is from federal funds. Stripping the funds would devastate research as well as the state’s economy, as the university system is California’s second-largest employer, the Tuesday complaint said.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the First, Fifth, and Tenth Amendments, separation of powers, spending clause, and Administrative Procedures Act.

The case is American Ass’n of University Professors v. Trump, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-07864, 9/16/25.