NIH Ordered to Reinstate Grants While Litigation Continues (1)

The Trump administration’s attempt to halt the reinstatement of federal research grants linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion has been blocked by a federal appeals court.

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit’s Friday decision comes in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s attempt to fend off legal challenges from Democratic-led states and interest groups over sprawling cuts to National Institutes of Health grants.

“The Department has not met its burden of establishing the grounds for a stay in this case,” Judge Julie Rikelman wrote in her opinion for a three-judge panel.

In June, a federal judge appointed by the late President Ronald Reagan found the NIH grant cuts illegal and vacated them, calling them discriminatory against LGBTQ people.

The federal government promptly requested a stay to block the order from going into effect, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction to weigh in on its grant payments.

Rikelman, however, said the HHS was “unlikely to succeed” in proving the lower court didn’t have the authority to review the department’s actions and grant relief.

The HHS had also tried arguing that grant termination decisions fall under the department’s discretion, meaning that they can’t be reviewed under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Rikelman felt otherwise. Pointing to the First Circuit’s ruling in Union of Concerned Scientists v. Wheeler and US Supreme Court’s decision in Heckler v. Chaney, she wrote that “because there are appropriate, ‘judicially manageable standards’ for evaluating the Department’s actions,” the “grant terminations are reviewable under the APA.”

Judges Lara E. Montecalvo and William J. Kayatta Jr. are also on the First Circuit panel.

The cases are Massachusetts v. Kennedy, 1st Cir., No. 25-01612, order 7/9/25and Am. Public Health Ass’n v. National Institutes of Health, 1st Cir., No. 25-01611, order 7/18/25 .