The facade of the Supreme Court building at dusk is shown in this file photo. In a 5-4 ruling Thursday, the Trump admin got the green light to cut nearly $800M in DEI-related health grants at the National Institutes of Health. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The decision overturns rulings by lower courts that had blocked the cuts. In June, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts called the administration’s actions "arbitrary and capricious" and said NIH had "failed to provide a reasoned explanation" for cutting grants midstream. The First Circuit upheld her injunction in July, setting up Trump’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Justice Department argued in its July 24 filing that leaving the injunction in place "forces NIH to continue funding projects inconsistent with agency priorities" and warned the order "intrudes on NIH’s core discretion to decide how best to allocate limited research funds."
Opponents framed the cuts as ideological. The American Public Health Association warned that "halting these grants would devastate biomedical research across the country, disrupting clinical trials and delaying urgently needed discoveries" and said "the administration has offered no scientific basis for these cancellations — only ideology."
FEDERAL JUDGE SLAPS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ON MISSISSIPPI DEI BAN
The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration's NIH to cut $783M in DEI-related grants on Thursday. (Getty/Stock)
Research groups warned of the cuts' fallout. The Association of American Universities said the cuts "risk chilling scientific inquiry by discouraging researchers from pursuing politically sensitive topics."
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Scientists cautioned the decision could derail progress on diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, even as the broader legal fight continues in the First Circuit and may return to the Supreme Court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jasmine Baehr is a Breaking News Writer for Fox News Digital, where she covers politics, the military, faith and culture.
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