On March 6, 2026, the Authors Guild, together with other organizations, writers, and scholars, filed a motion for summary judgment in our lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) over its unlawful termination of millions of dollars in committed research grants.

We are asserting constitutional claims based on the First Amendment, equal protection, and separation of powers and have asked the court to certify a class of more than 1,400 individual and institutional grantees. The court previously entered a preliminary injunction against the government, ruling that the terminations violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Now, with discovery completed, we and the other plaintiffs have detailed the shocking extent of the administration’s discriminatory actions and asked the court to vacate the terminations and permanently prohibit the government from such conduct in the future.

DOGE Used ChatGPT to Identify “DEI” and Cancel Grants

Our motion shows how the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) unlawfully seized control of the NEH’s decision-making process and terminated grants purportedly associated with DEI or the Biden administration.

DOGE officials used ChatGPT to identify research projects that “relate at all to DEI,” and to provide a short explanation for those that did relate to DEI. The DOGE employees did not provide ChatGPT with any definition of DEI, nor did they take any steps to ensure that the system wouldn’t discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or other protected categories. They took the ChatGPT responses at face value and never questioned its conclusions or “DEI rationales,” which for the most part simply noted that a grant description referenced a particular race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Grants determined by ChatGPT to relate to DEI in this manner were slated for termination.

Examples of rationales used to terminate grants include:

• “This biography explores the life and accomplishments of . . . a Black lawyer and jurist.”
• “The documentary explores a historical event that significantly impacted Black civil rights.”
• “The project uses historical research and Augmented Reality to showcase a demolished Chinatown, inviting reflection on the Asian American experience.”
• “This anthology explores Jewish writers’ engagement with the Holocaust in the USSR.”
• “This project aims to restore the legacy of a marginalized woman writer.”

DOGE also searched for grants containing keywords like “gay,” “BIPOC” (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), “indigenous,” “tribal,” “melting pot,” “equality,” and similar terms. It did not search for analogous terms like “white,” “heterosexual,” or “Caucasian.” After selecting more than 1,000 grants for termination because they purportedly involved DEI, DOGE officials expanded the sweep to every remaining Biden-era grant promoting ideas not deemed to specifically align with the current Administration’s priorities.

DOGE Was Responsible for Illegal Terminations

All of these terminations violated the First Amendment by targeting grants for their viewpoints and perceived political associations. They also violated equal protection by classifying grants based on race, sex, and other constitutionally protected characteristics.

The evidence establishes beyond doubt that DOGE, not NEH leadership, made the final decisions on which grants to terminate. This too is clearly unlawful, as Congress never granted DOGE any power to administer NEH grants.

The Guild is grateful to our attorneys and the other plaintiffs who brought these blatantly unconstitutional actions to light. We hope the court acts quickly on the summary judgment motion and restores the NEH funding upon which so many writers, scholars, and humanities organizations urgently depend.