What started as some Trump claim that University of California colleges were antisemitic turned into a billion-dollar shakedown, but UC just won this fight (for now) as a judge ordered that $500 million in research grants be reinstated.

The second Trump term has been marked by his claims that universities are somehow antisemitic, this despite Trump’s fondness for openly antisemitic figures like Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate, and Kanye West. It seems more that Trump hates pro-Gaza demonstrations and diversity programs. And accusations of antisemitism are his cudgel to, say, claw back hundreds of millions in research funding from UC Berkeley and UCLA, as he did in March.

UC Berkeley, to their discredit, caved to Trump and handed him the names of 160 students and faculty accused of antisemitism, with no details on said accusations. UCLA had it even tougher, as Trump threatened to fine the school $1.2 billion, in addition to yanking $538 million in research grants.

UC Berkeley students and faculty, to their credit, joined forces and sued the Trump administration earlier this month to get their research funding reinstated. And they got fast results, as the Chronicle reports that on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the administration to restore the research funding.

In her ruling, US District Judge Rita Lin noted some pretty threadbare and frankly borderline racist arguments that Trump Justice Department made in the case.

“The government’s position is that it could flagrantly violate the rights of researchers — even by terminating the federal funding of all Black researchers, or every researcher with an Asian last name — and the researchers would have nowhere to sue to undo those wrongs, unless their universities decided to sue in the Court of Federal Claims,” Lin wrote in her ruling.

Lin pointed out a few more arguments so asinine they could only come from Trumpworld.

One administration argument was that UCLA should lose millions in multiple sclerosis and dental disease research because of “antisemitism and bias,” solely because UCLA let transgender women compete in sports. Another cut off research on harmful emissions in poorer communities, arguing such research “discriminates on the basis of race, national origin, or other protected characteristics.”

This may not be final, as the ruling could be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Though as people who follow legal news know, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is not a particularly friendly setting for Trump.

Related: UC Students and Administrators Sue Trump Administration Over So-Called ‘Antisemitism’ Purge [SFist]

Image: Campanile at University of California in Berkeley (Getty Images)