The AAMC, with seven other organizations, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the federal government’s application for a stay of a district court’s ruling that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) acted unlawfully in terminating approximately 1200 research grants.
The amicus brief was filed Aug. 1 in American Public Health Association v. NIH and in Massachusetts v. Kennedy. U.S. District Judge William Young had ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in both cases, concluding that the terminations were arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (P.L. 79-404). The AAMC had previously filed amicus briefs in both district court cases [refer to Washington Highlights, April 18, May 2].
The amicus brief informed the Supreme Court of the disastrous consequences for science and the health of Americans following the sudden terminations: clinical trials ended, researchers laid off, offers of employment withdrawn, and squandered national and institutional investments in competitively awarded research projects.