Los Angeles, California - The Trump administration on Tuesday was ordered by a judge in California to restore funding to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after defying a previous ruling.

Judge Rita F. Lin on Tuesday ruled that the National Science Foundation (NSF) must reinstate about a third of its grants to UCLA after it attempted to get around a previous ruling in June that already required it to restore funding.

According to Lin, the NSF attempted to ignore the ruling and freeze the funding anyway based on an interpretation that it was okay to do so if an action had been "labeled as a 'suspension' rather than a 'termination.'"

"This is not a reasonable interpretation," said Lin, who had handed down the original court ruling in June after the NSF cut about $324 million in grant funding to UCLA.

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In her June ruling, Lin established that the Trump administration could not issue blanket grant terminations but instead had to establish clear reasons and justification for each cancellation.

The Trump administration seemingly ignored the order and on July 30 sent out letters announcing mass funding cancellations. In total, the terminated grants came to a value of over $300 million.

The letters only provided vague and repetitive reasons for the cuts, generally revolving around problems the Trump administration has with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and transgender participation in sports.

According to Lin, many of the grants that had been canceled were associated with causes that officials in the Trump administration oppose.

"Federal research grants are not handouts," UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a statement after the letters were sent out.

"Our researchers compete fiercely for these grants, proposing work that the government itself deems vital to the country’s health, safety and economic future."

"We will do everything we can to protect the interests of faculty, students and staff – and to defend our values and principles," Frenk said.