Inside the Federal Keyword Lists That Canceled Billions in Research Funding

Shortly after President Donald Trump retook office, researchers across the United States began receiving abrupt notices, often mid-project, that their federal grant funding had been terminated.

Court documents reveal the mechanism

In a lawsuit filed by University of California researchers, several federal agencies confirmed earlier this month in court documents that they cut grants when projects "expressed, or were presumed to express, viewpoints disfavored by the Administration."

Agencies relied heavily on keyword searches rather than reviewing grants individually, according to the filings. The terms varied by agency but centered on programs facing major conservative opposition, notably diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and green energy. The researchers say the terminations violated their First Amendment rights.

Four agencies, different word lists

Lists from four agencies named in the suit — the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Defense Department and the National Endowment for the Humanities — show how wide the screening ran.

NSF used the most terms, telling the court it took its list from a 2024 report by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz alleging the Biden administration had politicized science at the agency. The report listed hundreds of screening terms, among them "injustice," "ally," "discrimination," "minority" and "traumatic." NIH worked from a shorter but similar list that included "workforce diversity" and "health equity," applying "various permutations" of each keyword.

The Defense Department used terms such as "pay equity," "LGBTQ" and "neurodiversity" while also targeting climate and clean energy work. NEH cited "environmental justice" and "transgenderism" among its criteria.

Specific grants and their triggers

The four agencies told the court they used the lists rather than assessing each grant individually, identifying awards to cancel "using general criteria."

NIH cut at least $2.6 million for projects flagged for the phrase "structural racism." A UCLA study of gestational diabetes among Asian Americans was canceled over the term "health equality." Dozens of other projects lost grants not for their wording but for carrying diversity supplements.

What happens next

NIH said it specifically targeted grants held by researchers at UC's ten campuses, at one point suspending more than $500 million in funding to UCLA — money later ordered restored. UC researchers have won two preliminary injunctions blocking form-letter terminations at several agencies, and the case continues.