Researchers who worried that their recently restored National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants could be terminated again because of a recent Supreme Court ruling can breathe a bit easier for the moment. Government lawyers have told NIH staff that the roughly 900 grants on topics such as transgender health, COVID-19, and health disparities should stay in place.

NIH earlier this year began to cancel as many as 2300 grants because they violated executive orders from President Donald Trump barring federal funding for topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and transgender health. In June, after 16 state attorneys general, individual scientists, and groups representing researchers filed two lawsuits challenging the terminations, a federal judge ordered about 900 of the grants held by the plaintiffs restored.

But political appointees at NIH could still ignore that legal advice. And after 1 October, 2025 NIH will have new legal backing to cancel the next fiscal year’s funding for the projects.

Source https://www.science.org/content/article/despite-supreme-court-win-nih-may-not-quickly-kill-again-some-900-grants-sensitive

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