Federal Judge Blocks NEA from Imposing Speech Restraints on Grantees

Sep 24, 2025

On Friday, September 19, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled in favor of four arts organizations in their challenge to the National Endowment for the Arts’ policy disfavoring grant applications for projects the government believes “promote gender ideology,” per an announcement from the ACLU.

U.S. Senior District Court Judge William Smith held that the NEA’s grant application review process “violates the First Amendment because it is a viewpoint-based restriction on private speech.”

“The NEA intends to disfavor applications that promote gender ideology precisely because they promote gender ideology,” reads the order. “The Final Notice therefore promises to penalize artists based on their speech.”