Public health groups representing thousands of researchers and scientists sued the Trump administration Wednesday over actions that led to the termination of research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The American Public Health Association, Ibis Reproductive Health, the United Auto Workers union, and other researchers said in a complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts that the NIH unlawfully issued a series of directives that resulted in terminated grants that were no longer in line with the Trump administration’s priorities.
The grants had funded research that related to Covid-19, vaccine hesitancy, and transgender issues, which the groups say the NIH “purports to ‘no longer prioritize.’”
The NIH’s action followed President Donald Trump’s orders seeking to end programs or studies related to gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion, according to the complaint.
The directives conflict with constitutional, statutory, and regulatory requirements, the public health groups claimed, and the agency’s reasoning to terminate the grants is inapplicable.
“It has not highlighted any genuine concerns with the rigor of projects or any underlying data; in a matter of weeks it has just declared them all ‘unscientific,’” the groups wrote.
“As a result of the Directives, hundreds of NIH-funded research projects—many of which have been underway for years, representing millions of hours of work and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment—have been abruptly cancelled without scientifically-valid explanation or cause.”
The researchers allege violations under the Administrative Procedure Act, including the claim that the agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously.
The groups say they’ve already suffered extensive harm from the NIH’s actions, and those with grants that have yet to be canceled wonder if they will soon receive another “boilerplate termination letter.”
The complaint request the court to declare the NIH’s directives unlawful and order them to restore funding to terminated grants.
The NIH did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The case is Health Association v. National Institutes of Health, D. Mass., No. 1:25-cv-10787, complaint filed 4/2/25.