Overview

• On June 16, US District Judge William Young declared the Trump administration’s February eliminations of NIH grants illegal and void, mandating the reinstatement of 2,282 awards worth nearly $3.8 billion.
• The funding pullbacks, driven by the Department of Government Efficiency under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., targeted programs on diversity, equity, inclusion, gender identity and health disparities.
• Young criticized the administration’s directives as “bereft of reasoning” and condemned the terminations as clear racial and LGBTQ discrimination unprecedented in his four decades on the bench.
• The lawsuit challenging the cuts was filed in April by public health experts, labor unions and advocacy organizations including the ACLU, alleging an ideological purge that violated federal administrative law and congressional mandates.
• NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya admitted the agency overstepped in slashing biomedical research grants, launched an appeals process for affected scientists and now faces a court order to reinstate the funding.