Researchers Sue Administration over NIH Grant Terminations
- September 18, 2026
- Written by AHLA Legal Staff
Seventeen researchers have filed a proposed class action against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for alleged “viewpoint discrimination” in terminating grants and in awarding new funding based on the administration’s political preferences rather than scientific merit.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that NIH employs an algorithmic screen that flags existing grants or pending applications for an extensive list of “disfavored terms,” including “gender,” “diverse,” “trans,” and “climate change.” Grantees or applicants must remove the terms to avoid termination or a denial of funding, according to the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs are individual researchers with a record of receiving NIH awards seeking to represent two nationwide classes—researchers whose projects were terminated and those affected by the policies—“to challenge ongoing and widespread violations of the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act” (APA).
While acknowledging that the administration can set funding priorities, the complaint argues that the First Amendment does not allow the government to use “its funding power to target or silence the expression of disfavored viewpoints within the biomedical research community.”
In addition, under the APA, the agency may not “contradict Congressional mandates designed to prevent the politicization of the NIH award process, ignore regulations limiting the circumstances in which termination is allowed, or impose arbitrary and capricious grant-screening mechanisms without explanation or even public disclosure.”
The lawsuit follows similar challenges after NIH terminated certain grant funding last year because they “no longer effectuate[d] administrative priorities.”
According to plaintiffs, despite court orders partially blocking those efforts, “viewpoint-based terminations have restarted and new awards are also [being] impacted.”
The complaint asks the court to declare the challenged policies unlawful and to enjoin their future application.