A federal judge on Monday pronounced Trump administration cuts to grants issued by the National Institutes of Health are discriminatory—and thus "void and illegal"—while ordering much of the funding restored. US District Judge William Young made the ruling in Boston in a nonjury trial to decide lawsuits arguing the administration broke federal law by canceling hundreds of research grants that it said were tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. "You are bearing down on people of color because of their color," Young said, addressing the Trump administration, NBC News reports. "The Constitution will not permit that."
The judge ordered the NIH to distribute the funding that affected 367 grants that had been awarded to organizations and Democratic-led states. Young suggested he might later issue a more sweeping order. The Trump began terminating public health grants supporting research on topics including health equity, racial disparities, vaccine hesitancy, and maternal health in minority communities in March, per the New York Times. The grants were sometimes identified by scanning for particular terms. Since Trump's term began, the NIH has canceled 2,100 research grants totaling about $9.5 billion, plus $2.6 billion in contracts.
Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee who's been on the federal bench for 40 years, said the government is discriminating against racial minorities and LGBTQ people. A Justice Deparment lawyer did not explain to the court how the administration defines DEI or the harm they say related research causes, per Axios. The judge said that he'd "never seen government racial discrimination like this" and that it was his duty to call it out. He said the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action is not a license to discriminate.
"Have we fallen so low?" Young asked. "Have we no shame?" (More Trump administration stories.)
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