Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings today announced that a federal judge has set aside the Trump Administration’s unlawful termination of hundreds of biomedical research grants, declaring the move “illegal” and “void” and condemning evidence of discrimination against the LGBTQ community and racial minorities. The judge sided with a coalition of 16 attorneys general who are suing the Trump Administration over its unconstitutional attempt to disrupt grant funding issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).   

“You don’t need a legal background to understand that the Constitution states two things very plainly,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “One, that it is Congress, not the President, who makes decisions about what federal programs to fund – and two, that racial discrimination by the federal government – even when it’s given another branding, like ‘anti-DEI’ – is illegal.” 

The lawsuit, filed on April 4, noted that NIH had terminated large swaths of already-issued grants for projects that are currently underway based on the projects’ perceived connection to “DEI,” “transgender issues,” “vaccine hesitancy,” and other topics disfavored by the current Administration. Siding with the states, Judge William G. Young denounced these actions, stating that he had “never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable” in his 40 years on the bench, and that he would “be blind not to call it out.”  

Today’s court ruling halted the cancellation of millions of dollars that have already been awarded to address important public health needs and will allow funding for life-saving medical research to continue. The coalition will be filing a proposed order with the court in the coming days.   

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