Key facts
- A class-action lawsuit was filed against the U.S. National Institutes of Health on Wednesday.
- The suit alleges the Trump administration used a list of 235 keywords to screen and suppress research grants.
- Keywords reportedly include 'gender,' 'Latinx,' and 'climate change,' affecting research on diversity and health equity.
- Plaintiffs claim the screening violates the First Amendment by imposing ideological review on research.
- Researchers risk losing funding or having grants terminated if flagged terms are not removed.
A group of scientists filed a class-action lawsuit on Wednesday against the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), alleging the agency unconstitutionally screens research grants to suppress viewpoints the Trump administration disfavors on topics like diversity, gender identity, and climate change. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, names NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and DOGE as defendants, and is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The plaintiffs claim the NIH uses a list of 235 keywords, including "gender" and "Latinx," to flag grants for termination, denial, or forced renegotiation. Researchers who refuse to remove these terms risk losing funding. The lawsuit asserts that this screening adds an ideological layer of review beyond the scientific peer review process, violating the First Amendment and statutes governing grant terminations.
Arghavan Salles, a surgeon and clinical associate professor at Stanford University, stated that her grant on sexual harassment in biomedical research was terminated as "DEI-related." Ann Cohen, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said the loss of funding for her Alzheimer's disease study forced her team to cancel participant appointments and slow data analysis.
The NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The suit seeks to vacate the policies and restore terminated grants.