On February 2, 2026, the Department of Energy filed a reply brief in its appeal of the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in the case challenging cuts to indirect costs.
The brief was filed in the First Circuit by the American Council on Education, AAU, and 21 other higher education organizations as amici curiae supporting Harvard in its challenge to federal actions by the Trump Administration and several federal agencies.
AAU joined ACE, AAMC, and other higher education organizations in the filing of an amicus brief urging the First Circuit to uphold a ruling requiring the executive branch to reinstate billions in canceled NIH research grants.
AAU joined ACE and sixteen other higher education associations in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit supporting a request to stay a new VA policy that limits GI Bill benefits.
AAU joined AAMC and six other higher education associations in filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States, urging the court to deny the government’s stay application in a case involving the mass termination of NIH grants. The brief highlights how the administration’s abrupt cancellation of thousands of grants undermines the NIH’s science-based grantmaking process and destabilizes the biomedical research enterprise. They argue that funding decisions should be based on rigorous scientific review, not political considerations, and that the terminations threaten long-term scientific progress.
On June 9, 2025, AAU joined ACE and 26 other higher education organizations in submitting an amicus brief supporting Harvard University’s motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful freeze of its federal funding. The case, President and Fellows of Harvard College v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al., was filed on April 21, 2025, and argues that the administration’s actions violate the First Amendment as well as federal laws and regulations.
AAU joined AAMC and six other higher education associations in filing an amicus brief in the case of Commonwealth of Massachusetts et al. v. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., et al.
The amicus brief argues that the NCAA's eligibility rules, including the five-year time limit for student-athletes, are rooted in educational principles rather than commercial interests and should not be subject to antitrust scrutiny simply because some athletes now benefit from name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals.
AAU joined 13 higher education associations in submitting an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Cunningham v. Cornell. The brief supports Cornell University and asks the United States Supreme Court to affirm the Second Circuit’s November 2023 decision that to state a valid claim for breach of a fiduciary duty for a prohibited transaction under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), more is required than just a mere allegation that such a transaction took place.
AAU joined higher education associations in submitting an amicus brief to the Eleventh Circuit in the case of Zhang v. Emory.