ACLU challenges NIH for allegedly removing researchers based on ideology

The U.S. Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit alleging that the National Institutes of Health violated federal law by engaging in an unconstitutional “continuous ideological purging.”

The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts District Court on behalf of members, four researchers, and three unions that rely on NIH funding, claims that federal scientific agencies have abruptly cancelled hundreds of research projects without providing scientifically sound explanations.

According to the lawsuit, the cancellations were justified by the NIH based on “ideological purity instructions” regarding research areas such as diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), vaccine reluctance, and gender identity.

The lawsuit argues that this new arbitrary regime lacks any legal or policy basis, and accuses the NIH of failing to establish clear guidelines, definitions, or explanations for the restrictions on research related to DEI, gender, and other areas that do not align with the agency’s standards.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include the NIH, its director Jay Battacharya, the American Department of Human Health Services, and Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Both federal agencies have declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.

The ACLU is working with the Science Center for the Public Interest and Conservation Democracy Project on this litigation.

This lawsuit is just one of several legal challenges facing the NIH as the Trump administration seeks to reduce research funding, change allocation methods, and diminish the emphasis on diversity in academia.

After facing legal challenges, a Massachusetts judge halted the NIH’s efforts to restrict overhead funding in February. Other lawsuits are challenging the freeze on federal-wide funding and the administration’s ban on DEI programs.

Olga Axelrod, senior attorney for the ACLU Racial Justice Program, emphasized the importance of maintaining a fair grant review process and ending NIH’s alleged lawless grants that have disrupted numerous research projects and affected the careers of many scientists.

According to the lawsuit, at least 678 research projects, including studies on breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and HIV prevention, have been terminated by the NIH, amounting to over $2.4 billion in cancelled grants.

The lawsuit highlights the significant impact of these cancellations not only in terms of financial loss but also in the disruption of years of dedicated research aimed at addressing critical biomedical issues.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include researchers like Brittany Charlton, a Harvard Medical School professor who focuses on LGBTQ health inequality, and Katie Edwards, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work who studies sexual violence prevention in minority communities.

These researchers, along with others, have had their grants abruptly cancelled by the NIH, prompting the lawsuit to seek justice and protection for the affected research projects and scientists.