UCLA wins against Trump: Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement [View all]

The Trump administration abandoned its appeal of a court order blocking its proposal for UCLA to pay a $1.2-billion settlement over alleged civil rights violations.

Despite dropping the appeal, the administration continues investigating the UC system and other campuses as part of its campaign to reshape higher education.

The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked the government’s $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations.

In a Wednesday filing with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Department of Justice lawyers asked judges to dismiss an appeal it filed last month seeking to reverse a lower court decision. The November ruling — a major victory for UC workers who sued — had stalled the fine and a 27-page settlement document outlining administration demands to push the university ideologically rightward.

The proposal called for sweeping changes at UCLA — and by extension all of the UC system — including a ban on diversity-related scholarships, restrictions on foreign student enrollment, a declaration that transgender people do not exist, an end to gender-affirming healthcare for minors, limits on free speech and nearly unfettered sharing of personnel data with the government.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-13/trump-drops-appeal-of-court-order-blocking-uc-ucla-settlement