Attorney General Nick Brown co-leads lawsuit against president and NIH

Attorney General Nick Brown co-led a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration Friday, accusing it of unlawfully interfering with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

This marks the second lawsuit filed by state attorneys general over canceled NIH grants.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, was brought by attorneys general from 16 states. It challenges the administration’s alleged delays in reviewing NIH grant applications and its termination of hundreds of already-approved grants. The lawsuit claimed the Trump administration canceled grants for projects it opposed, including those focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as certain vaccine-related research.

The loss of funding for UW

The states argued the alleged delays and funding cuts have caused significant harm to public research institutions, including the University of Washington (UW), which received more than $648 million in NIH grants for the fiscal year of 2024—more federal research dollars than any other public university.

According to Brown, UW saw millions of dollars in grants terminated, which impacted research in areas such as trauma care for sexual assault victims, chlamydia prevention, and the impact of air pollution on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. As a result, Brown said, the university has been forced to furlough or potentially lay off research staff and faculty and reduce graduate program admissions.

“The Trump administration’s illegal withholding of funding halts life-saving advancements in medical, agricultural, and public health research,” Brown said. “The damage is not only to scientific progress, but also to the jobs of researchers. We are asking the court to direct the release of funds already allocated to Washington’s research centers.”

In their suit, the attorneys general urged a federal judge to require the administration to promptly review and approve delayed grant applications. States involved in the lawsuit are currently waiting for decisions on billions of dollars in requested funding.

What other states are involved in the lawsuit?

In addition to Brown, the lawsuit is co-led by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, and Maryland. Other participating states include Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

This legal action follows a separate lawsuit filed in February, in which Brown joined 22 other attorneys general to challenge the administration’s attempt to cut “indirect cost” reimbursements for NIH grants. On March 5, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking those cuts as the case moves forward.

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