Overview

• The ruling lifts a Massachusetts judge’s block on payments, allowing NIH to proceed with canceling roughly $783 million in existing awards.
• The court left standing the lower court’s vacatur of NIH guidance that set DEI and gender-identity funding priorities, limiting prospective policy use.
• Justice Amy Coney Barrett cast the decisive votes and wrote that challenges to terminated grants likely must be filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
• Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three liberal justices in dissent, as separate opinions from Justices Gorsuch and Jackson underscored deep disagreement over emergency relief and lower-court compliance.
• Litigation continues as states, researchers and public‑health groups warn of disruptions to more than 1,700 studies, including research on cancer, HIV and Alzheimer’s.