A group of 18 leading U.S. research universities, including Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins, asked a federal judge for permission to file legal arguments in support of Harvard University in its high-stakes showdown with the Trump administration over more than $2 billion in frozen grant money.

The institutions have all received millions of dollars from the federal government for research that has “advanced scientific knowledge, safeguarded national security, strengthened the American economy, and saved countless lives,” they said in a court filing Friday in Harvard’s lawsuit.

Harvard sued in April, claiming the government freeze violates the university’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech and federal law governin

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