"A federal judge in Massachusetts, William Young, has ruled that the Trump administration's decision to cut National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants—allegedly in response to executive orders targeting gender identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies—was "illegal" and "void."

 

 

In his ruling, Judge Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said he was reinstating grants that had been awarded to the organizations and Democratic-led states that had sued over the terminations, Reuters reported.

...

Young accused the government of racial discrimination and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community in court on Monday, Bloomberg Law reported.  "This represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community. That's what this is," Young said. "I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out."

 

(more)

 

Newsweek

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/republican-appointed-judge-hands-donald-trump-a-legal-blow/ar-AA1GPFzI

 

 

Judge orders NIH to restore hundreds of grants cut under Trump

William Young calls terminations illegal, berates agency for discrimination

"A federal judge in Boston has ruled that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) must immediately restore approximately 800 grants touching on politically sensitive topics that it abruptly canceled earlier this year. In his ruling today after a morning hearing, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts William Young said the agency’s decision to terminate grants in areas such as racial health disparities and transgender health were arbitrary and capricious, meaning there was no legally valid process behind its reasoning.

...

 

Andrew Nixon, director of communications for the Department of Health and Human Services, NIH’s parent agency, responded that, “HHS stands by its decision to end funding for research that prioritized ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for the American people.” The department “is exploring all legal options,” he said, including filing an appeal and a motion to stay the order.

...

The judge repeatedly requested NIH to describe what it considered to be unscientific matters of DEI and to differentiate it from research into health disparities, such as studies on how certain drugs or diseases affect people from diverse backgrounds. When Young asked NIH’s attorney how any specific grant project had supported unlawful discrimination, as NIH’s termination letters suggested, the attorney was unable to point to an example in the evidence submitted to the court.

 

(more)

 

Science

https://www.science.org/content/article/judge-orders-nih-restore-hundreds-grants-cut-under-trump

 

oh no

Alright! Transgender mice are BACK!  /s

From AI, in response to typical right-wing mischaracterizations:

 

"Transgender mice" studies, while often mischaracterized in public discourse, are important because they are actually studies involving

transgenic mice used as model organisms to understand complex biological processes, particularly those related to gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) and its effects" 

 

This Is What’s Behind Trump’s Uproar Over Transgender Mice

Mar 07, 2025

 

"During his State of the Union address on March 4, Donald Trump alleged that the Biden administration had spent $8 million “for making mice transgender.”

 

It turns out that the bizarre line from Trump’s speech was actually about the use of transgenic mice to study the safety of hormone treatments often given to transgender people  (and that, not the use of mice, is what the administration objects to). Transgenic mice are mice with modified DNA, which biomedical researchers use to study how genes impact disease and health, or how human diseases and organs might respond to medications." [emphasis added]

 

Researchers rely heavily on transgenic mice in particular for cancer research, and these mice also help study the role genes play in conditions like aging, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, diabetes, heart disease and Parkinson’s disease." [emphasis added]

 

(more)

 

Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2025/03/07/this-is-whats-behind-the-uproar-over-transgenic-mice/

 

Typical Trump Admin stupidity when it comes to science and public health issues.