Researchers Sue NIH Over Alleged Ideological Grant Censorship

Researchers filed a class action lawsuit in San Francisco on Wednesday against the National Institutes of Health, alleging the Trump administration is blocking and canceling scientific grants to censor topics it disagrees with. The lawsuit claims the government is violating the First Amendment by using a list of 235 keywords, including gender and racist, to screen out research regarding climate change and health equity.

Plaintiffs argue this ideological review forces scientists to scrub their research to maintain federal funding and disrupts critical data analysis. Data from Grant Witness indicates the administration disrupted more than 5,700 grants at the NIH in 2025, although over 4,500 of those grants have since been restored.

The legal action is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The United States Department of Health and Human Services has not yet responded to requests for comment.