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TRENTON – New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration over its unlawful attempt to terminate and disrupt grant funding issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenges the Trump Administration’s termination of hundreds of already-issued grants nationwide, as well as its unreasonable delays in reviewing applications for new NIH grants.

“For generations, New Jersey has been a national hub for groundbreaking medical and scientific research that has saved countless lives across the United States. Instead of supporting this lifesaving research, the Trump Administration is undermining it at every turn, recklessly terminating and delaying research funding that can save lives and solve some of the biggest public health challenges of our time,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The Trump Administration’s cuts and delays to scientific research are shameful: They put lives at risk and prevent some of our most vulnerable populations from getting the care they need and deserve. We will keep fighting to restore this critical funding and protect our public health.”

The complaint alleges that NIH has recently terminated large swaths of already-issued grants for projects that are currently underway based on the projects’ perceived connection to “DEI” or other topics disfavored by the current Administration. In boilerplate letters issued to the grants’ recipients, NIH claims that each cancelled project “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” With these shoddy explanations, the complaint alleges, the Trump Administration has clawed back millions of dollars that have already been awarded to address important public health needs.

The complaint also alleges that NIH has unlawfully delayed issuing final decisions on applications for funding. Typically, NIH grant applications must undergo two layers of review: review by a “study section” of subject-matter experts who assess the scientific merit of the proposal and review by an advisory council that considers funding availability and agency priorities. Since January, the Administration has cancelled upcoming meetings for both of these review bodies and has delayed the scheduling of future meetings. NIH has also indefinitely withheld issuing final decisions on applications that have already received approval from the relevant study section and advisory council. Currently, the plaintiff states are awaiting decisions on billions of dollars in requested research funding.

As a result of the Administration’s delays and terminations, the states allege that their public research institutions have experienced significant harm. For example, at Rutgers University, NIH has terminated more than $6 million in already-awarded grant funding to date.  Among other things, those grants address important public health challenges, including HIV prevention, suicide risk and mental health, and the ongoing development of antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19.  In addition, delays in obtaining new NIH awards threaten a critical source of research funding for Rutgers, as the University receives approximately $250 million annually from NIH that supports approximately 1,200 projects.

The coalition argues that by terminating issued grants, postponing meetings, delaying the review of pending applications, and failing to issue final recommendations, NIH is failing to meet its statutory obligations and violating applicable regulations. Further, the coalition argues that the Administration does not have the authority to unilaterally decline to spend congressionally appropriated funds.

The coalition is asking the Court to prohibit the Trump Administration from terminating already-awarded grants and to compel the Administration to promptly review and issue decisions on delayed grant applications.

This lawsuit is the latest effort by Attorney General Platkin to fight back against President Trump’s dangerous and shortsighted attack on public health and scientific research since January 20.  On February 10, Attorney General Platkin joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Administration for its attempts to unilaterally cut “indirect cost” reimbursements for NIH grants at nearly every research institution in the country. On March 5, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the Administration, preventing it from cutting the funding as the case proceeds. On April 1, Attorney General Platkin joined a collation of 23 states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump Administration for illegal cuts of grants from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and later secured a temporary restraining order.

Joining Attorney General Platkin in filing today’s lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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