On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that it had reached a settlement with the federal government, alongside other organizations representing medical researchers. This settlement concerns a lawsuit over previously rejected grant applications, turned down under a policy that has since been nullified by the courts. Pending judicial approval, the agreement mandates that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will restart the review process for grants that were originally denied based on ideological criteria. Although this does not ensure funding for these grants, it does guarantee they will undergo the usual peer review process.
Initially, these grants were rejected without proper review because their content conflicted with the ideology of the Trump administration. The policy responsible for these rejections was later deemed arbitrary and capricious—a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act—a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Background: Upon taking office, the Trump Administration identified certain research categories it would not support, some of which were vaguely defined, including climate change, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), pandemic preparedness, and gender ideology. Subsequently, federal agencies began to cancel grants containing what were considered disfavored topics, and they blocked new grant applications for similar reasons. This led to canceled funding for research ranging from antiviral drugs to prostate cancer incidence in African Americans.
Researchers affected by the funding cuts, along with representative organizations, filed lawsuits. The litigation resulted in two partly overlapping cases: one focusing on individuals whose funding had been revoked and the other on researchers whose grant applications were withdrawn from consideration.