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Trump Wins Again. US Supreme Court & Immigration
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0:00
The US Supreme Court let President
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Donald Trump's administration on
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Thursday proceed with sweeping cuts to
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National Institutes of Health grants for
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research related to racial minorities or
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LGBT people, part of his crackdown on
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diversity, equity, and inclusion
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initiatives and transgender identity.
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The justices granted the Justice
0:24
Department's request to lift
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Boston-based US District Judge William
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Young's decision in June that the grant
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terminations violated federal law, while
0:33
a legal challenge brought by researchers
0:36
and 16 US states plays out in a lower
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court. The NIH is the world's largest
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funer of biomedical research. The cuts
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are part of Trump's wide-ranging actions
0:49
to reshape the US government/f federal
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spending and end government support for
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programs aimed at promoting diversity or
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gender ideology that the administration
1:01
opposes.
1:03
The administration said Young's ruling
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required the NIH to continue paying 783
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million in grants that run counter to
1:12
its priorities. The administration
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repeatedly has sought the Supreme
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Court's intervention to allow
1:18
implementation of Trump policies impeded
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by lower courts. The Supreme Court,
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which has a 6 to3 conservative majority,
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has sided with the administration in
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almost every case that it has been
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called upon to review since Trump
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returned to the presidency in January.
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After Trump signed executive orders in
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January targeting DEI and gender
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ideology, NIH instructed staff to
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terminate grant funding for low value
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and off-m mission studies deemed related
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to these concepts as well as CO 19 and
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ways to curb vaccine hesitancy.
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Young's ruling came in two lawsuits
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challenging the cuts. One was filed by
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the American Public Health Association,
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individual researchers and other
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plaintiffs who called the cuts an
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ongoing ideological purge, targeting
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projects based on vague, now forbidden
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language. The other was filed by the
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states, most of them democratic le. The
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plaintiffs said the terminated grants
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included projects on breast cancer,
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Alzheimer's disease, HIV prevention,
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suicide, depression, and other
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conditions that often disproportionately
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burden minority communities, as well as
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grants mandated by Congress to train and
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support a diverse group of scientists in
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biomedical research. Young, an appointee
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of Republican former President Ronald
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Reagan, invalidated the grant
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terminations in June. In a written
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ruling, the judge said they were
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breathtakingly arbitrary and capricious,
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violating a federal law governing the
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actions of agencies. During a June
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hearing in the case, Young rebuked the
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administration for what he called a
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darker aspect to the case that the cuts
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represent racial discrimination and
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discrimination against America's LGBTQ
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community.
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I've never seen a record where racial
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discrimination was so palpable, the
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judge said. Young also said the cuts
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were designed to stop research that
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bears on the health of the LGBT
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community. That's appalling, the judge
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said. The Boston-based First US Circuit
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Court of Appeals on July 18th denied the
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administration's request to put Young's
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decision on hold. The administration has
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argued that the litigation should have
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been brought in a different judicial
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body, the Washington-based Court of
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Federal Claims, which specializes in
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money damages claims against the US
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government. That reasoning was also the
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basis for the Supreme Court's decision
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in April that let Trump's administration
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proceed with millions of dollars of cuts
4:08
to teacher training grants, also
4:10
targeted under the DEI crackdown.
#Government
#Legal
#Sensitive Subjects