Sixteen Attorney General for State Filed a lawsuit Against Trump’s administration on Friday on the cancellation of research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Massachusetts District, argued that the cancellation of the grant was “violating the law” and the Attorney General “sought help for unreasonable and intentional delays which currently disrupted the grant application process.”
The defendants mentioned in the lawsuit were included, almost all of 27 institutions and centers, the director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services and Secretary HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Nih told ABC News that they did not comment on delayed litigation. HHS did not immediately reply to ABC News comments requests.
“Once again, the Trump government places politics before public health and risking lives and livelihoods in the process,” said Attorney General New York Lieutenant James, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement. “Millions of Americans depend on our country’s research institute for care and cure diseases that destroy the family every day.”
William H. Natcher building at the National Institutes of Health Campus in Bethesda, MD.
Scott J. Ferrell/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. Via Getty Images
“The decision to cut this fund is an attack on science, public health, and medical innovation – and I will not support it. We demand to recover this critical fund because of New York people, and the whole nation, deserves better,” the statement continued.
Over the past few weeks, active research grants related to studies involving LGBTQ+problems, gender identity and diversity, justice and inclusion (Dei) have been canceled because they are suspected of not serving the “priority” of President Donald Trump’s government.
At the end of March, more than 900 grants worth millions of dollars had ended, an official with knowledge about this issue, who asked not to be named, told ABC News.
In previous termination letters, seen by ABC News, they stated that, “Research programs based on gender identity are often unscientific, have a little return on investment that can be identified, and does nothing to improve the health of many Americans. Many such studies ignore, rather than seriously examining, biological reality. This is a policy that does not prioritize this research program.” “
“The premise … is not in accordance with the agency priority, and there is no project modification that can align the project with the agency priority,” continued the letter.
The plaintiff argues that the termination, “if left unchecked,” can cause “direct, direct, significant, and cannot be improved against their plaintiffs and public research institutions.”
The Attorney General is looking for initial and permanent orders asking the defendants to review the delayed application and unless they stop the grant.
Earlier this week, researchers who had millions of dollar grants were ended by this to sue the agency, HHS, Bhattacharya and Kennedy in the hope of stopping the cancellation of further research.