District Judge William Young, a nominee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, blasted the Trump administration’s NIH cuts as discriminatory and “bearing down on people of color because of their color.”
A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s sweeping terminations of NIH research contracts are not only illegal, but are also a clear manifestation of the government’s “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.”
In a speech after delivering his verdict on Monday, U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts called the administration’s move to cut federal funding for certain research grants “arbitrary and capricious,” going against established government standards, as per the Associated Press. Young blasted the Trump administration, which he said was “bearing down on people of color because of their color,” NBC News reported. “The Constitution will not permit that.”
“It is palpably clear these directives and the set of terminated grants here also are designed to frustrate, to stop research that may bear on the health–we are talking about health here–the health of Americans. Of our LGBTQ community,” Young said in remarks noted by ProPublica reporter Annie Waldman on Bluesky. “That’s appalling.”
“Is it true of our society as a whole, have we fallen so low, have we no shame?” Young added.
Young was appointed in 1985 by Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Despite the strong words from Young, the Department of Health and Human Services is not backing away from its decision to cancel hundreds of NIH research grants. “HHS stands by its decision to end funding for research that prioritized ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for the American people,” a spokesperson told Fierce Biotech, adding that the department is “exploring all legal options” regarding the ruling.
Since assuming office in January, Trump has cut back funding for many NIH research programs. In April, for instance, The Washington Post reported that the government was considering scaling back the HHS’ budget by $40 billion—including giving the NIH just $27 billion to spend, down from $47 billion the previous year.
The same month, the NIH threatened to cut off funding for universities with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) programs. According to a press statement at the time, institutions that accept an NIH grant have to agree that “they do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws.” This order was rescinded months later.
HIV research in particular has been deeply scaled back by the NIH cuts. Since April, some 770 research grants have been pulled, nearly 30% of which were related to HIV/AIDS.
Speaking to BioSpace last month, John Meade, senior program manager for Policy at the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, said, “I can only predict that [the NIH cuts are] because of the population that it affects,” namely people who often belong to sexual and racial minorities. “HIV research has always been based on the marginalized and the most vulnerable populations, and cutting those will only hurt those populations, which I think is the goal of this administration.”
