US judge orders NIH to restore diversity research grants cut by Trump administration

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump-era termination of hundreds of diversity-focused scientific research grants was unlawful and discriminatory, ordering the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to reinstate the cancelled funding.

A US federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Monday that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must reinstate hundreds of research grants cut during the Trump administration, describing the terminations as discriminatory and ideologically driven.

The decision, handed down by US District Judge William Young, responded to lawsuits brought by civil society groups, individual researchers, and over a dozen Democratic-led states. The grants in question had supported research in areas such as race, gender identity, and public health equity.

According to the Washington Post, Judge Young—who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan—expressed deep concern over what he described as a level of government-led racial discrimination he had not witnessed in four decades on the bench.

“We are really gratified,” said Shalini Goel Agarwal of Protect Democracy, which represented one group of plaintiffs. She praised the court’s recognition that NIH acted “unlawfully … based on ideological grounds and not based on science.”

The ruling comes in response to the Trump administration’s broader effort to eliminate funding it claimed promoted “ideological agendas.” According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, nearly $3.8 billion in NIH funding was slashed during Trump’s tenure, including about $500 million earmarked for training and professional development—cuts the association called “unprecedented.”

Andrew Nixon, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the agency is weighing legal options, including an appeal and a potential motion to pause the ruling. HHS continues to defend the original decision to cut the grants, claiming they lacked scientific rigor.

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