Overview

• The 5–4 order lets the administration proceed with terminating roughly $783 million in NIH awards while leaving intact a lower-court ruling that voided the guidance that spurred the cancellations.
• Following the decision, government lawyers asked to move Harvard’s lawsuit over frozen and canceled grants to the claims court, and Harvard responded that its First Amendment and statutory claims belong in district court.
• Legal experts say the shift makes near-term reinstatement unlikely because the claims court typically does not issue injunctions, raising the prospect that reinstated grants will be canceled again before any damages are awarded.
• Harvard’s exposure totals about $2.4 billion in affected awards with an estimated $1.3 billion unpaid, and talks continue over a potential settlement reported at more than $500 million as other schools, including Columbia, have already cut deals.
• The ruling also has implications for parallel disputes over cancellations at the National Science Foundation, the Education Department and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which may be redirected away from district courts.