Judge Rules Trump’s Efforts To Cancel Hundreds Of DEI-Based Research Grants Are Illegal: ‘Have We No Shame?’

A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump‘s attempts to cancel several hundred National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants were illegal. This ruling stemmed from serious concerns of racial discrimination.

U.S. District Judge William Young stated that the administration’s actions failed to adhere to long-standing government standards and processes when implementing the cancellation, which specifically targeted grants supporting resources for gender identity and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Young pressured government lawyers to formally define DEI in order to properly evaluate a case concerning the restoration of two grants that had been canceled.

The Massachusetts judge raised questions about how grants falling under the DEI category could be canceled, given that some were primarily focused on addressing health disparities. Young went on to state that the efforts to eliminate these grants are rooted in “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.”

Over $1 billion was cut due to these grant terminations, mainly impacting studies of HIV prevention, violence prevention in children and Alzheimer’s disease. The sudden loss of these programs and more introduces a great risk to patients who may have been relying on closed clinical trials for treatment.

One of the canceled projects cited in this case studied how medicines performed differently in people from ancestrally diverse backgrounds. In April, a group of scientists and health organizations sued the NIH, arguing that cutting this necessary funding was unlawful and threatened the future possibility of cures.

Young has been serving in the judiciary since 1985. “I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this,” he said in the hearing. “Have we no shame?”

The judge’s ruling does not address all of the hundreds of NIH projects that will be cut or shut down due to a lack of funding, and the decision may be appealed.