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A federal judge ordered the National Institutes of Health to reinstate hundreds of research grants, ruling the Trump administration’s widespread attempt to terminate funding that clashed with its agenda illegal on Monday.
United States District Judge William G. Young ’62 accused the Trump administration of “palpably clear” discrimination in the Monday hearing, saying the terminations were made with no rational basis in a Tuesday court filing.
Beginning in February, the NIH terminated hundreds of grants across the country for research featuring themes that conflicted with the Trump administration’s priorities. By April, the cuts to Harvard and affiliated hospitals totaled more than $11o million.
All the canceled projects centered around themes of gender and sexuality, Covid-19 and vaccines for the disease, or health disparities. Many included key words in their abstracts, like “race,” “barrier,” “inequity,” and “minority,” that were reportedly used to target projects for cuts.
Harvard received $488 million — more than 70 percent of its total federal funding — in fiscal year 2024 from the NIH.
The Monday hearing combined multiple lawsuits over the NIH grants, including one filed by a coalition of 16 states led by Massachusetts and another filed by the American Public Health Association.
Young, a 1985 Reagan appointee, said at the hearing that he has “never seen government racial discrimination like this” in his 40-year career, calling the funding cuts “arbitrary and capricious, and unlawful” in his ruling.
“Have we no shame?” he said at the end of Monday’s hearing.
The ruling voided 11 memoranda and directives issued from the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services that specifically cut grants based on politically-motivated language.
A February directive on “DEI-Related Funding” was canceled by Young, as well as a March order to terminate Covid-19 grants and several memos on aligning with “agency priorities” and “the new administration’s goals.”
It is unclear whether the Monday order will reinstate grants to Harvard. The Trump administration has cut more than $2.7 billion in federal funding in retaliation for the University’s refusal to comply with its demands. Harvard officials say that the majority of federal grants to the University — including nearly all at its School of Public Health — have now been cut.
Meanwhile, Harvard is pursuing its own lawsuit to keep its federal funding. Harvard sued the Trump administration over the funding freeze on April 22, and has since amassed the support of more than a dozen universities as it awaits a July hearing.
HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon wrote in a statement to The Crimson that the department is “exploring all legal options” — including appealing the ruling and moving to stay the order — and “stands by its decision” to cut research funding.
“Under the leadership of Secretary [Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’76] 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,” Nixon wrote.
The Trump administration’s invocation of “gold standard science” has drawn anger from scientists nationwide, many of whom fear that it authorizes political appointees to control how research is conducted and communicated — and threatens their own scientific independence.
But Young’s ruling drew praise from elected officials in Massachusetts.
Senator Ed J. Markey (D-Mass.) condemned the cuts in a post on X, saying Young “has ruled what we already knew.”
“Trump’s NIH cuts are brazenly illegal,” Markey wrote. “This cowardly attack on Massachusetts must not stand.”
Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey ’92 — who has vocally opposed federal funding cuts to Harvard — wrote in a Monday press release that despite the “reassuring” ruling, the NIH funding cuts “have already caused significant damage.”
“He forced our research universities to lay off staff and rescind PhD offers,” Healey wrote. “And he handed China and other foreign countries the opportunity to recruit away our researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs.”
“President Trump’s NIH funding cuts made America weaker and less competitive,” she added.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell, who has led several lawsuits against the Trump administration, also applauded the ruling as “a win for all of us” in a Monday press release.
“Since taking office, Donald Trump has worked overtime to attack our nation’s health care system, including illegally eliminating critical research grants that prioritize the health of women, our LGBTQ+ community, and communities of color,” Campbell wrote.
“We won’t let this Administration play politics with our public health or violate the law,” she added.
—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.
—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.
