A federal judge in Boston has ordered the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to reinstate at least 800 research grants that were terminated earlier this year under directives from the Trump administration. The decision, delivered by U.S. District Judge William G. Young, found that the NIH’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious,” and that the terminations were both illegal and discriminatory.
Under the Trump administration, the NIH began terminating hundreds of grants, many of which focused on topics such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), health disparities, LGBTQ health, and vaccine hesitancy. The terminations followed a series of executive orders and internal directives that targeted research deemed not to align with the administration’s new priorities.
The cuts affected institutions nationwide, including Harvard University and its affiliated hospitals, with more than $110 million in research funding lost at Harvard alone. Many of the canceled projects included keywords like “race,” “barrier,” “inequity,” and “minority,” which were reportedly used to identify grants for termination.
The legal challenge was brought by a coalition of states, public health organizations, and individual researchers, including Harvard epidemiologist Brittany Charlton. Plaintiffs argued that the NIH’s actions violated federal law and the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide adequate reasoning for the terminations and by targeting research on disfavored topics.
Judge Young’s ruling was unequivocal. He stated that the government’s actions amounted to “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community,” and that such discrimination “requires the court to enjoin it”. The judge ordered the NIH to immediately restore funding to the affected grants and to resume all procedural steps necessary for the review and disposition of grant applications.
The court’s preliminary injunction includes the following directives:
- NIH must restore all grants terminated based on the administration’s directives, retroactive to their original end dates.
- NIH must reinstate funding opportunities and unfreeze any reimbursements or awards that were halted.
- NIH is prohibited from terminating grants based on a purported failure to effectuate agency priorities.
- NIH must expedite review of applications delayed or denied due to the directives.
- The government is required to file regular status reports confirming compliance with the order.
