Shortly after two federal judges ruled against the National Institutes of Health cancelling some grants, an internal memo instructed staff to not terminate additional projects, The New York Times reported June 25.
“Effective immediately, please do not terminate any additional grant projects,” Michelle Bulls, an NIH official who oversees external funding, said in the memo.
So far this year, NIH has rescinded thousands of research grants worth more than $3 billion, according to estimates. Grant Watch says 2,548 grants, amounting more than $3.2 billion, have been cut, while the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates 2,282 grants worth $3.8 billion have been rescinded.
On June 16, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that some of the terminations, particularly the hundreds of grants focused on race, gender and sexual orientation, were discriminatory, “void and illegal.” The judge ordered the grants to be restored. HHS, which oversees the NIH, said it plans to appeal the ruling.
A week later, a California federal judge ruled June 23 that the NIH restore funding for more than 800 research grants. The judge said he had “never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable,” according to CalMatters.
It is unknown whether NIH has restored those grants, according to the Times.
