Hundreds of NIH grant terminations are ‘void and illegal,’ federal judge rules The decision by a federal court in Boston hands a temporary victory to researchers

https://www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/nih-research-cuts-ruled-illegal-by-federal-judge-william-young/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--UFAImSJtXpMxvtRcbwFl1uXgj2uKMAbR_jO1kf_G_3epigYaeox6AGqsAjHULKO8gTt8n9xbYAy4AlMwupeHBEyyrFA&_hsmi=367027123&utm_content=367027123&utm_source=hs_email Hundreds of NIH grant terminations are ‘void and illegal,’ federal judge rules A federal judge deemed that some of the grant terminations by the NIH are “void and illegal” in a hearing yesterday regarding two lawsuits against the Trump administration. STAT’s Anil Oza was in the courthouse as Judge William G. Young expressed frustration that the NIH had no formal definition of DEI despite terminating a wide swath of grants in that area. The decision, which can be appealed, hands a temporary victory to researchers across the country, who are reeling from unprecedented changes at the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research. I called Brittany Charlton, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and a plaintiff in one of the suits, to get her reaction to the decision. “It was so, so powerful to hear the judge’s pretty strongly worded response,” she said. “I think his words really remind us that the promise of fairness and scientific integrity can’t be subject to the whims of politics.” Read more from Anil on the details.