The Trump administration has delayed a key step in the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) funding process for medical research, potentially violating a federal judge’s order on freezes of federal funding.

Scott Alan Roberts has overseen the NIH funding in the past, stated, “The public has the right to know who’s giving advice to the federal government and when they’re meeting.”

Another source said that by doing this “they effectively shut down the extramural research program”.

Sam Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan, said “Judge John McConnnell initially issued a temporary restraining order saying stop the funding pause”.

Bagenstos continued “The Trump administration must immediately end any federal funding pause. The further, broader order says that they must clear any administrative, operational or technical hurdles to implementation.”

If the Trump administration continues to evade court orders Bagenstos said “judges have a number of tools at their disposal. They could issue more specific orders directed toward individuals responsible for violations, or even hold them in civil contempt of court, which can include jail time”.

A source familiar with the process said that for every three days’ worth of delayed study sections, $1bn of NIH funding is put on hold.

A scientist who was supposed to have her grant proposal reviewed said “This week, without warning, as we were checking in to our flights for DC, my study section was canceled for no reason”.

Stuart Buck, the Good Science Project’s executive director says “Jay Bhattacharya, who Trump nominated to direct the NIH, has “not even had a confirmation hearing yet”.

He continued “All the public rhetoric is about reducing the deficit or reducing regulation. But the things they’re doing so far are mostly not aimed at the deficit or regulation at all. They’re canceling contracts, firing people and creating chaos everywhere.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/23/trump-nih-health-medical-research