Group asks court to strike down grant restrictions on various legal grounds
Days after the ACLU of RI requested a preliminary injunction in a separate federal lawsuit on behalf of domestic violence coalitions challenging new federal grant restrictions, the ACLU filed a motion for summary judgment late Monday on behalf of four arts organizations, arguing that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is violating the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and Administrative Procedure Act in its implementation of an executive order that prohibits federal funding for grants that promote “gender ideology.” If the ACLU’s motion is granted, the suit could be resolved without trial.
The motion, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, comes after the NEA admitted that it would judge projects based on whether they “promote” what the government deems to be “gender ideology” and after it reinstated a requirement that grant applicants agree to abide by all other executive orders when applying for a grant.
The suit was first filed in March on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts and three other arts organizations after the NEA began requiring applicants to attest that they would not promote so-called “gender ideology” in order to be eligible for funding, and blocked any projects that were deemed to do so from getting an award. In immediate response to the litigation, the NEA paused the “gender ideology” certification requirement. Shortly thereafter, the court held that the NEA’s decision to make any project that promotes “gender ideology” ineligible for funds likely violated the First Amendment and exceeded its statutory authority, but held off issuing an injunction in order to give the agency time to decide whether and how it would impose the ban.
More recently, however, the NEA reinstated the requirement that applicants comply with all executive orders and acknowledged that “gender ideology” would be a factor in its grant decision-making.
The motion for summary judgment was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union; the ACLU of Rhode Island through cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger; and David Cole, in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts and three outside arts organizations: National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive, and the Theatre Communications Group.
The motion can be viewed here. All case documents can be viewed here.
“The NEA has admitted that it is screening art projects for ‘gender ideology,’” said Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “This is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment. By judging projects based on whether they fit the government’s worldview, the NEA is abandoning its statutory role to fund works based on excellence and merit, as well as violating the free expression rights of artists across the country.”
“We know that the NEA is not upholding the protections guaranteed by the First Amendment,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “If Rhode Island Latino Arts’ grant application, and all the plaintiffs’ applications, are denied funding because of ideology, then this would be a major step backward in our collective right to freedom of speech. We are hopeful the court will not accept the NEA’s troubling arguments.”
