ACLS, AHA, and MLA File Motion for Summary Judgment to Restore Previous NEH Function and Funding - ACLS

"On Friday, March 6, 2026, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Association (AHA), and the Modern Language Association (MLA) filed a motion for a summary judgment in their case to restore National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) previous function and funding.

The motion included discovery documents revealing that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) used a flawed ChatGPT process to identify “DEI programs” and inform decisions to terminate grants awarded by the NEH. The motion was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The filing by the plaintiffs included depositions by two key members of the DOGE team, as well as Adam Wolfson (NEH Assistant Chair for Programs) and Michael McDonald (NEH General Counsel and Acting Chair of the NEH from March 2025 to January 2026). The depositions document DOGE’s inappropriate use of ChatGPT to determine which grants should be cancelled, based on whether the generative AI chatbot identified the project titles as “DEI.” Depositions reveal that DOGE team members made the decisions about funding—despite having no legal authority to do so; document the use of Signal by DOGE and NEH staff to communicate about their process in violation of the Federal Records Act; and make clear that some grants were terminated despite NEH staff concluding that they did not conflict with new policies coming from the Trump Administration."