Federal judge rules Trump's cuts to NIH discriminate based on race and sexual orientation

A federal judge in Boston on Monday ruled that the Trump administration's cuts to diversity-related federal grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) constitute discrimination on the basis of race and sexual orientation. 

The NIH began canceling grants in March that it claimed were spent on projects like studies on transgender healthcare, vaccine hesitancy, and diversity research, arguing the grants no longer aligned with the agency's priorities under Trump.

U.S. District Judge William Young ruled that the NIH violated the Constitution in its decisions to cancel the grants, and is reinstating the grants to the organizations and Democratic-led states, who sued over the terminations, per NBC News. 

“This represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community,” Young, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, said. “Any discrimination by our government is so wrong that it requires the court to enjoin it and at an appropriate time, I’m going to do it.”

Young claimed that the decision to pull funding for grants related to racial diversity was "bearing down on people of color because of their color,” and that he had “never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable.”

The funding cuts were part of the administration's efforts to reshape the federal government, reduce wasteful spending and end federal support for DEI programs and transgender healthcare.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.