The Trump administration’s legal case for cutting nearly $3 billion in federal aid to Harvard University was met with skepticism.

Harvard University is in federal court in its ongoing battle with the Trump administration over more than $2 billon in government funding halted by the White House in spring.

The same day Harvard rejected the government’s demands, Trump officials moved to freeze $2.2 billion in research grants. Education Secretary Linda McMahon declared in May that Harvard would no longer be eligible for new grants, and weeks later the administration began canceling contracts with Harvard.

The judge did not issue a ruling Monday in the closely watched fight over more than $2 billion in canceled federal research funding. But she said the government’s arguments raised “mind-boggling” questions.

Lawyers for the Trump administration sparred with Harvard, Planned Parenthood and the American Association of University Professors on Monday at Boston's Moakley Courthouse over funding, free speech and more.

“They’ve realized that they can take a bit of a step further, that they can advance their policy priorities through those levers they have through the state university system,” said Preston Cooper, a senior fellow who studies higher education policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

President Donald Trump took to social media to harshly criticize a Boston federal judge overseeing the lawsuit levied against his administration by Harvard University, further threatening to launch an appeal if she rules against him.