Judge excoriates Trump admin for repeatedly 'refusing to comply' with discovery and court orders [View all]
Source: Law & Crime
Dec 19th, 2025, 5:51 pm
A federal court in Manhattan chided the Trump administration on Thursday for trying to dodge discovery obligations in a collection of consolidated lawsuits over terminated grant awards issued by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
In a 32-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, a Bill Clinton appointee, issued a victory for the plaintiffs and a loss for the government. The court granted several motions to compel discovery filed by the plaintiffs in two consolidated cases and overruled a series of objections lodged by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The ruling takes the Trump administration to task for its discovery-related behavior so far and warns the government that discovery violations going forward could result in punishment.
"The Court reminds the parties that compliance with discovery obligations 'is not optional or negotiable,'" the opinion reads. "It is also well-recognized that '…a district court has wide discretion in sanctioning a party for discovery abuses.' The Court will not hesitate to impose sanctions should any party fail to comply with its discovery obligations or the Court's discovery directives."
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/not-optional-or-negotiable-judge-excoriates-trump-admin-for-repeatedly-refusing-to-comply-with-discovery-and-court-orders-in-humanities-grant-funding-lawsuit/
Full headline: 'Not optional or negotiable': Judge excoriates Trump admin for repeatedly 'refusing to comply' with discovery and court orders in humanities grant-funding lawsuit
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