Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Pause $783 Million in NIH Research Grants Amidst Allegations of Ideological Purge

In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, federal research grants worth approximately $783 million, initially allocated by the National Institute of Health (NIH), have been temporarily halted due to the projects no longer aligning with the Trump administration’s policies. The court, however, upheld a lower court ruling that invalidated NIH memos enforcing these administrative policies.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett concurred with the conservative justices, while Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal justices. This decision comes after the NIH, the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, initiated termination of numerous federal grants in February for projects deemed non-compliant with the administration’s policies.

The ACLU has labeled this move an “ideological purge,” as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, ordered a review of all grants supporting or funding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) research, gender identity studies, vaccine hesitancy investigations, and projects concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. Grants were also rescinded for projects deemed to have exceeded their “limited purpose.”

The NIH argues that grants can be terminated if they do not support the agency’s objectives or policies as stated in their Notice of Award Stipulations. This case mirrors an April Supreme Court emergency docket decision, where justices allowed the administration to freeze $65 million worth of Department of Education DEI-related grants while the case was heard in lower courts.

However, sixteen states, various advocacy organizations, and researchers disagreed with the grant terminations, filing a lawsuit against the NIH and Kennedy. A federal district court judge ruled that the terminations were unreasonable and temporarily reinstated the grants. The First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to intervene in the lower court’s decision.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court overturned the district court’s order, allowing the Trump administration to pause payments to researchers until the case progresses through the lower courts.