Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed by Donald Trump, issued a sharp warning to lower courts on Thursday after the Supreme Court delivered a narrow victory to the Trump administration in a dispute over federal research funding. In a 5–4 ruling, the Court allowed the administration to halt millions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health. The grants had supported projects connected to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender identity research, and some COVID-19 programs. The decision means the NIH, the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, can stop awarding grants tied to race-based or DEI objectives while legal challenges continue.
Writing separately, Gorsuch criticized lower federal courts for issuing rulings that conflict with decisions already made by the Supreme Court. Joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, he said the Court had recently been forced to intervene multiple times to correct lower courts that failed to follow its directives. “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,” Gorsuch wrote, stressing that judges are obligated to respect the authority of the nation’s highest court.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett cast the decisive vote. She joined conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito in allowing the grant cuts, but sided with Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court’s liberal justices to leave in place a lower-court ruling that struck down certain NIH guidance documents. The case began after U.S. District Judge William Young ordered the government to restore the grants following lawsuits from researchers and Democratic-led states. The Supreme Court’s decision temporarily blocks that order while the broader legal battle continues.
