Judge rules some NIH grant cuts illegal, saying he's never seen such
discrimination in 40 years
[June 17, 2025]
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday it was illegal for the
Trump administration to cancel several hundred research grants, adding
that the cuts raise serious questions about racial discrimination.
U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts said the
administration's process was “arbitrary and capricious” and that it did
not follow long-held government rules and standards when it abruptly
canceled grants deemed to focus on gender identity or diversity, equity
and inclusion.
In a hearing Monday on two cases calling for the grants to be restored,
the judge pushed government lawyers to offer a formal definition of DEI,
questioning how grants could be canceled for that reason when some were
designed to study health disparities as Congress had directed.
Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, went on to
address what he called “a darker aspect” to the cases, calling it
“palpably clear” that what was behind the government actions was “racial
discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community.”
After 40 years on the bench, “I've never seen government racial
discrimination like this,” Young added. He ended Monday's hearing
saying, “Have we no shame.”
During his remarks ending the hearing, the judge said he would issue his
written order soon.
Young's decision addresses only a fraction of the hundreds of NIH
research projects the Trump administration has cut — those specifically
addressed in two lawsuits filed separately this spring by 16 attorneys
general, public health advocacy groups and some affected scientists. A
full count wasn't immediately available.
While Young said the funding must be restored, Monday's action was an
interim step as the ruling could be appealed.
The Trump administration is “exploring all legal options” including
asking the judge to stay the ruling or appealing, said Andrew Nixon, a
spokesman for NIH's parent agency, the Department of Health and Human
Services.
“HHS stands by its decision to end funding for research that prioritized
ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for
the American people,” he said in an email.
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President Donald Trump, from left, speaks as Health and Human
Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during an event in the
Roosevelt Room at the White House, May 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
 While the original lawsuits didn't
specifically claim racial discrimination, they said the new NIH
policies prohibited “research into certain politically disfavored
subjects.” In a filing this month after the lawsuits were
consolidated, lawyers said the NIH did not highlight genuine
concerns with the hundreds of canceled research projects studies,
but instead sent “boilerplate termination letters” to universities.
The topics of research ranged widely, including cardiovascular
health, sexually transmitted infections, depression, Alzheimer's and
alcohol abuse in minors, among other things. Attorneys cited
projects such as one tracking how medicines may work differently in
people of ancestrally diverse backgrounds, and said the cuts
affected more than scientists — such as potential harm to patients
in a closed study of suicide treatment.
Lawyers for the federal government said in a court filing earlier
this month that NIH grant terminations for DEI studies were
“sufficiently reasoned," adding later that “plaintiffs may disagree
with NIH's basis, but that does not make the basis arbitrary and
capricious.” The NIH, lawyers argued, has “broad discretion” to
decide on and provide grants “in alignment with its priorities” —
which includes ending grants.
Monday, Justice Department lawyer Thomas Ports Jr. pointed to 13
examples of grants related to minority health that NIH either hadn't
cut or had renewed in the same time period — and said some of the
cancellations were justified by the agency's judgement that the
research wasn't scientifically valuable.
The NIH has long been the world’s largest public funder of
biomedical research.
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