Latest news with #JudgeYoung
Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
US judge declares Trump's cuts to NIH grants ‘illegal'
A Massachusetts federal judge has declared that cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants made by the administration of US President Donald Trump are 'illegal' and 'void,' and ordered that many of the grants be restored. In a ruling issued on Monday, Judge William Young vacated the terminations that began in late February and said the NIH violated federal law by arbitrarily cancelling more than $1bn in research grants because of their perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Young told the court there could be little doubt the cuts represent 'racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community', according to quotes published on X by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney. In April, a group of researchers sued the NIH, saying hundreds of critical research projects were halted due to an 'ideological purge'. The plaintiffs argued that the reasons given for the terminations – connections with 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' and 'gender identity' – were vague and lacking in concrete explanation. Terminated grants included programmes focusing on women, racial minorities and the health of health of gay, lesbian and transgender people, but also included studies on cancer, youth suicide and bone health. The government has argued that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the NIH has discretion to set its own priorities. Young said he was reinstating grants that had been awarded to organisations and Democratic-led states that sued over the terminations. And the judge strongly suggested that as the case proceeds, he could issue a more sweeping decision. Young, who was appointed by US President Ronald Reagan, offered a harsh rebuke to the government, saying that in his 40 years on the bench, he had 'never seen evidence of racial discrimination like this'. The ruling comes almost a week after Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), admitted that the Trump administration had gone too far in slashing biomedical research grants and said efforts were under way to restore some of the funding Bhattacharya made the remarks Tuesday during a Senate committee hearing examining both recent cuts to his agency and deeper reductions proposed by the White House in next year's budget. 'I didn't take this job to terminate grants,' said the physician and health economist, who left a professorship at Stanford University to join the Trump administration. 'I took this job to make sure that we do the research that advances the health needs of the American people,' he said, adding that he had created an appeals process for scientists and laboratories whose research was impacted, and that the NIH had already 'reversed many' of the cuts.
New York Times
16 hours ago
- Health
- New York Times
Trump's Cuts to N.I.H. Grants Are Illegal, Federal Judge Rules
A federal judge on Monday declared the Trump administration's move to cut hundreds of grants issued by the National Institutes of Health illegal, accusing the government of discrimination against minorities and L.G.B.T.Q. individuals. Ruling from the bench, Judge William G. Young of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered the government to restore much of the funding. Judge Young, a Reagan appointee with 40 years of experience as a federal judge, said the Trump administration's rationale for canceling the grants, which support research into topics such as gender identity and equity in health care, appeared to be rooted in prejudice. He noted the administration's efforts to eliminate any trace of diversity and equity initiatives from the federal government, as well as its attacks on transgender people. He said that throughout his career he had 'never seen government racial discrimination like this,' and that he felt duty bound to state his conclusion about the government's intent. 'I would be blind not to call it out,' he said. Judge Young's ruling echoed arguments during a brief trial earlier in the day in which lawyers from an array of groups said the grants had become a political target. Kenneth Parreno, a lawyer representing the American Public Health Association, called the government's actions part of a campaign to ban 'forbidden topics' in science by canceling grants related to race or transgender health. 'What this is, is a slapdash, harried effort to rubber stamp an ideological purge,' he said. The Trump administration in March began terminating a number of public health grants supporting research on topics such as health equity, racial disparities, vaccine hesitancy, and maternal health in minority communities, sometimes by mechanically scanning for certain terms. In May, Mr. Trump signed an order called 'Restoring Gold Standard Science' that cited a 'reproducibility crisis' and resurrected policy disputes from the Covid-19 pandemic, among other things, as justification for deep changes to the government's role in research and development. In two separate cases that were heard together, a coalition of Democratic-led states and a coalition of unions, researchers and public health organizations each sued to stop a raft of cuts at the N.I.H., which they said jeopardized scientific progress. In hearings leading up to the ruling on Monday, Judge Young repeatedly pressed for details about the government's decision making, expressing deep skepticism that it had followed normal, dispassionate processes in terminating the grants.
