Federal Judge Orders Restoration of NIH Funding

A federal judge in Boston ordered the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to restore billions of federal research grants terminated by the Trump Administration as part of the President’s anti-DEI initiatives. The ruling came in response to two lawsuits brought by the American Public Health Association and by a coalition of states led by Massachusetts—the latter lawsuit alleging that Massachusetts lost more NIH grant funding than any other state. 

In a ruling on June 16, U.S. District Court Judge William Young found that the administration’s process to cut funding for certain programs was arbitrary and capricious and that the administration was engaging in discrimination against the LGBTQ community. Judge Young, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, called the reasoning behind the cuts “appalling.”   

Judge Young’s ruling requires the restoration of nearly $3.8 billion across 367 federal NIH grants. In response to the ruling, HHS Spokesperson Andrew Nixon stated that the agency is “exploring all legal options, including filing an appeal and moving to stay the order.”