The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to continue moving forward with canceling National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants over their connections to diversity initiatives.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the court for an emergency stay that would stop Boston-based U.S. District Judge William Young’s ruling last month, which halted the cancellation and forced the government to reinstate several of the grants.
The case centered on a legal challenge by researchers, unions and a coalition of 16 Democratic-led states. They sued the administration after the NIH terminated grants supporting research on topics like health equity, racial disparities, vaccine hesitancy and maternal health in minority communities.
The abrupt cancellations were part of the administration’s quest to slash spending and end federal support for initiatives Trump officials considered to be promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
“The district court’s order directs the NIH to continue paying $783 million in federal grants that are undisputedly counter to the Administration’s priorities,” DOJ wrote in the filing.
“Following the change in Administration, the NIH identified, explained, and pursued new funding priorities. That is democracy at work, not, as the district court thought, proof of inappropriate ‘partisan[ship]’—let alone a permissible basis for setting agency action aside,” the filing stated.
The Trump administration has repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to step in when its policies have been blocked by lower courts. Thursday’s filing was the administration’s 21st emergency application since taking office, and the White House has found success in nearly every single instance.
