Trump NIH Blocked From Cuts to Research Funds, Plans Appeal

The Trump administration was blocked from capping funds from the National Institutes of Health that cover grant recipients’ research overhead costs, a federal judge ruled Friday.

States and academic groups showed success on the merits of their argument that the NIH violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it issued a 15% cap on “indirect funds” in February, Judge Angel Kelley of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled.

The Trump administration earlier Friday requested in a motion that Kelley convert her preliminary injunction into a permanent one.

The administration requested the move because “this case presents dispositive legal issues that Defendants will address on appeal to the First Circuit, and entering judgment would serve judicial efficiency and avoid the unnecessary expenditure of party resources,” according to its motion.

The administration is now “enjoined from taking any steps to implement, apply, or enforce” the indirect funds guidance, Kelley wrote.

The cap on funds applies to research money the government pays to universities and institutions to cover the expenses of facilities, utilities, laboratory equipment, and project support staff.

The reduced rate was challenged Feb. 10 by 22 states and other academic membership organizations arguing the cap will have destructive effects on research and walk back decades of progress made by the scientific community. The groups argued the move violated the APA and was arbitrary and capricious, failed to follow notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures, and was impermissibly retroactive.

The NIH claimed it isn’t cutting grant funding but rather moving the indirect costs to other funding areas. The agency estimates the reduced rate would save the government at least $4 billion a year.

Kelley in March issued a temporary block against the 15% cap, ruling it was a “unilateral change over a weekend,” and was “without regard for on-going research and clinical trials.”

The case is Massachusetts v. NIH, D. Mass., No. 1:25-cv-10338, order filed 4/4/25.