About the Lawsuit
Taking Action to Save the NEH
The American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association have filed a lawsuit in federal district court, seeking to reverse the recent actions to devastate the National Endowment for the Humanities.
FAQs Regarding the Lawsuit
This document offers information related to the lawsuit filed by the ACLS, AHA, and MLA, opposing the illegal dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Tracking Federal Actions Affecting History
The AHA is tracking information on federal actions and their impact on history and education.
Support the AHA's Advocacy Efforts
The American Historical Association, in collaboration with our colleagues at the American Council of Learned Societies and the Modern Language Association, have filed a lawsuit in response to the illegal dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities. We need your support for this and other advocacy efforts, in Washington and in the states on behalf of social studies education. Please join our community of members and donors. Join or donate today.
The overall dismantling of the NEH will have dire consequences for the American Historical Association and its more than 130 affiliates. The NEH does more than fund the work of the thousands of historians who belong to the AHA and these affiliated societies. The agency is, in essence, the convener of humanities disciplines. Because of its resources, the professionalism and intellect of its staff, and its prestige, the NEH regularly convenes representatives of scholarly associations, higher education institutions, state humanities councils, museums, and other organizations. We learn not only from NEH staff, but from one another in ways that are impossible through publications or even online.
~James Grossman, American Historical Association
As the agency embodying public investment in the humanities, the NEH is uniquely positioned to lead public-private partnerships in support of the humanities on a national scale. . . . As no other foundation or organization does, they [NEH staff] have knowledge of the many types of institutions of higher education in the US where work in the humanities takes place: e.g. community colleges, regional comprehensive universities, liberal arts colleges, universities."
~Joy Connolly, American Council of Learned Societies
The loss of the NEH as an institution will harm higher education in the United States. The NEH represents the only democratic, open funding processes in the country for humanities scholars. . . .The significant loss of staffing at the NEH will also produce harm to the humanities in the US. NEH staff members are resources for faculty members, associations, researchers, and public humanities bodies all over the country. . . . This loss of institutional knowledge, the loss of data-gathering, loss of support for local programming and for individual research projects is a loss from which it is hard to imagine how the country will recover.
~Paula Krebs, Modern Language Association
Timeline & Latest Updates
June 13, 2025
The plaintiffs file a combined reply in support of the motion for a preliminary injunction and in opposition to the defendants' motion to dismiss.
June 5, 2025
The defendants file a motion in opposition to the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction.
May 14, 2025
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Association (AHA), and the Modern Language Association (MLA) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the unlawful dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Read Joy Connolly’s (ACLS) Declaration
May 1, 2025
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Association (AHA), and the Modern Language Association (MLA) filed a lawsuit in federal district court, seeking to reverse the recent actions to devastate the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), including the elimination of grant programs, staff, and entire divisions and programs.
April 4, 2025
The American Historical Association releases a statement condemning the evisceration of the National Endowment for the Humanities, as the current administration’s Department of Government Efficiency has terminated hundreds of grants and put 75% of staff on leave. “The NEH and the grants it administers nourish our democracy through research, education, preservation, institutional capacity building, and public programming in the humanities for the benefit of the American people,” the statement reads. “This frontal attack on the nation’s public culture is unpatriotic, anti-American, and unjustified."
April 2, 2025
The NEH terminates over 1,200 grants, including the AHA's Africa in World History and Changes Across the Land teacher institutes.
March 12, 2025
Shelly C. Lowe, the chair of the NEH, leaves her position “at the direction of President Trump." Michael McDonald, the agency’s general counsel, is appointed the acting chair.
For the Press
If you are a member of the media and would like to submit a request for a referral or interview, please email press@historians.org.
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