In a partial win for researchers and public health advocates, a federal judge in Boston ruled this week that Kennedy’s decision to cancel hundreds of National Institutes of Health grants was illegal—and ordered that the funding be immediately restored.
The grants, totaling roughly $3.8B, had funded research in areas such as racial disparities in disease, vaccine hesitancy, maternal mortality, and the effects of climate change on human health.
Judge Young called the cancellations discriminatory, saying from the bench: “I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this.”
The court found that NIH and Kennedy were “arbitrary and capricious” when they revoked 367 competitive research awards. Most of these grants had already been peer-reviewed and approved for multi-year funding but were suddenly pulled without clear justification.
This decision orders NIH to immediately reinstate the canceled grants.
Given his aversion to public health and medical research, Kennedy is expected to challenge the decision, likely seeking an emergency stay of the ruling while it moves through the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
Again – the judicial branch of government comes to the rescue (for now).
