16 States Sue Trump Administration Over Halted NIH Grant Funding

The lawsuit claims the Trump administration’s actions include canceling required peer review meetings and withholding final decisions on applications.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then-nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies before the Senate on Jan. 30, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A coalition of 16 states filed a federal lawsuit on April 4 against the Trump administration, accusing it of illegally obstructing and canceling National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding critical to public health and medical research.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the complaint alleges that since January, the administration has unreasonably delayed reviews of NIH grant applications and abruptly terminated hundreds of previously awarded grants. The coalition argues that the administration’s actions violate federal law and constitutional limits on executive authority.

“Massachusetts is the medical research capital of the country,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who led the lawsuit, said in a statement. “Not only do our public research institutions rely on NIH funding for their groundbreaking research, job creation and academic competitiveness, but our residents depend on these studies to propel lifesaving medical advancements.

“I won’t allow the Trump administration to take unlawful actions that play politics with our public health.”

Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin joined the suit.

It names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., NIH, and other related entities as plaintiffs.

A spokesperson for HHS told The Epoch Times that the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation, and the agency has not yet officially responded in court.

In line with a series of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump, federal agencies were directed to halt funding for programs that promote “gender ideology” and to withdraw support from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives the administration considers discriminatory. Following those directives, the NIH began advising staff to cancel grants involving DEI, transgender-related research, or projects with potential links to Chinese institutions.

The lawsuit ties the grant terminations to a series of executive orders issued earlier this year, including Executive Order 14173, which requires agencies to end support for DEI programs deemed to violate federal anti-discrimination law and directs them to ensure federal grants do not promote “gender ideology.”

The states claim the Trump administration’s actions include canceling required peer review meetings and withholding final decisions on applications already approved by NIH advisory bodies.

Some terminations were allegedly justified by letters citing a grant’s lack of alignment with “agency priorities,” often linked to research on diversity or vaccines.

University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan, whose university received $285 million from NIH last year, according to the same statement, warned of broad consequences if the situation persists.

“Research universities play a critical role in the economic competitiveness of our state and our nation,” Meehan said. “The potential loss of millions of dollars in federal funding will harm the university and our students, faculty, and staff, weaken the Commonwealth’s competitive edge, and jeopardize advances in medical treatments and cures.”

The lawsuit claims that more than 350 grant applications submitted by the University of Massachusetts remain in limbo, representing about $848 million in potential funding.

In one case, the plaintiffs allege that a study on a gene related to Alzheimer’s disease was postponed due to an unscheduled NIH review meeting.

The uncertainty also led the University of Massachusetts Amherst to reduce doctoral program admissions for fall 2025, rescinding financial offers to hundreds of prospective students, officials said.

The states allege that the administration is not only stalling the grant process but also unlawfully clawing back awarded funds based on shifting and unexplained priorities.

The complaint cites the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional separation of powers and says that the executive branch cannot override Congress’s appropriations authority.

NIH funding has historically supported major medical breakthroughs, from the rubella vaccine to advances in HIV treatment and the discovery of genetic links to cancer, according to the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, nearly all drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration from 2010 to 2019 involved NIH-supported research.

“NIH is the largest public funder of medical research in the world,” the lawsuit notes.

The coalition is asking the court to order NIH to resume its review process and halt further grant terminations.

The suit comes three days after a separate coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia sued HHS and Kennedy, alleging the department abruptly and arbitrarily terminated $11 billion in public health funding on March 24 without advance notice or warning.