Judge rules NIH broke law by axing $1B in DEI grants
A federal judge has declared that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) violated the law in cutting more than $1 billion in DEI-related grants, with a significant portion of the grants funding universities.
Plaintiffs include researches from Harvard Medical School, the University of Michigan School of Social Work, and the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.
A federal judge has declared that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) violated the law in cutting more than $1 billion in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-related grants, with a significant portion of the grants funding universities.
The government has already hinted it will appeal the decision following the judge’s decision on Monday.
At least three of the plaintiffs associated with the initial lawsuit are university researchers, including those at Harvard Medical School, the University of Michigan School of Social Work, and the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.
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In his decision, U.S. District Judge William Young of Boston ruled that the government’s cuts targeted racial and gender minorities, including people who identify as LGBT.
“This represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community,” Young wrote. “Any discrimination by our government is so wrong that it requires the court to enjoin it and at an appropriate time, I’m going to do it.”
Young, who has been on the bench since 1985, said he had “never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable.”
Prior to Trump taking office earlier this year, the NIH prioritized many DEI-related grants.
However, following the president’s election, his administration has sought to eliminate such funding in an attempt to cleanse the federal government and society of DEI. The administration has also fired roughly 1,200 NIH employees.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs NIH, defended the cuts in a statement to NBC News.
The department “stands by its decision to end funding for research that prioritized ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for the American people,” spokesman Andrew Nixon said.
“Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration, HHS is committed to ensuring that taxpayer dollars support programs rooted in evidence-based practices and gold standard science – not driven by divisive DEI mandates or gender ideology,” he continued. “HHS is exploring all legal options, including filing an appeal and moving to stay the order.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents the defendants and filed their lawsuit in April, criticized NIH’s actions in a press release.
“NIH has attempted to justify the first wave of its sweeping grant cancellations by vaguely citing connections to ‘gender identity’ or ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), without defining these terms or explaining how they apply to the terminated research,” the release says. “As a result, critical studies addressing urgent health disparities — designed to develop prioritized strategies for populations at the highest risk of disease — have been indiscriminately wiped out.”
Campus Reform contacted the National Institutes of Health for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
