A Supreme Court justice appointed by President Donald Trump has sharply criticized lower courts for failing to follow rulings from the nation’s highest court.Justice Neil Gorsuch voiced his frustration Thursday after the Supreme Court of the United States issued a narrow decision in a dispute over federal research funding. In a 5–4 ruling, the Court allowed the Trump administration to halt millions of dollars in research grants previously distributed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grants had supported projects connected to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, gender identity research, and certain COVID-19 studies.
Gorsuch, joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said the Court has repeatedly had to intervene because lower courts refused to comply with earlier Supreme Court decisions. “This marks the third time in a matter of weeks this Court has had to reverse a lower court on an issue it had already addressed,” he wrote. While judges may disagree with the Court’s rulings, he stressed that they are not free to ignore them. The case began after a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered the government to continue funding the grants despite a prior Supreme Court ruling that allowed the administration to cut similar DEI-related funding. A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and public health groups had challenged the cuts, arguing they were discriminatory.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett cast the decisive vote in the case. She joined conservative justices including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito in allowing the administration to terminate the grants. However, Barrett also sided with Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court’s three liberal justices—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—to leave intact a lower-court decision striking down certain NIH guidance documents outlining policy priorities. The ruling overturned a previous order from U.S. District Judge William Young, who had directed the NIH to restore the grants. Young argued the funding cuts amounted to discrimination against racial minorities and the LGBTQ community. Since returning to office in 2025, Donald Trump has issued several executive orders dismantling DEI-related programs introduced during the previous administration. The Supreme Court’s decision represents another legal victory for those efforts.
