BOSTON— A federal judge in the US District of Massachusetts, appointed by Barack Obama, has once again stepped in to undercut Donald Trump.

Judge Allison Burroughs, often criticized as a Democrat activist in a robe, ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration’s freeze on Harvard’s federal research grants was illegal. Her order immediately restores more than $2 billion in taxpayer funding to the Ivy League university and blocks the White House from trying again.

Burroughs claimed Trump’s team used antisemitism complaints as a “pretext” to cut Harvard’s cash flow. The ruling hands a major victory to Harvard’s administrators while Trump supporters say it strips the executive branch of its rightful power to decide how federal money is spent.

It’s not the first time this Massachusetts judge has tangled with Trump. In recent years, Burroughs also blocked immigration rules affecting Harvard’s foreign students, moves critics slammed as pure politics from the bench.

The Trump team is expected to appeal, setting up another fight over whether unelected judges can override presidential authority in the name of protecting elite institutions.