Scientists sue NIH alleging unconstitutional grant screening

A group of 17 scientists filed a class-action lawsuit on September 16, 2026, alleging the National Institutes of Health unconstitutionally screens research grants to suppress disfavored viewpoints. Backed by the ACLU, the suit names NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as defendants. It claims the NIH uses 235 keywords, such as 'gender' and 'climate change,' to target grants, forcing hundreds of researchers to scrub their proposals to retain federal funding.

NIH grant screening lawsuit

• ▪A group of 17 researchers, including 13 named and four anonymous plaintiffs, filed a class-action lawsuit on September 16, 2026, against the National Institutes of Health, alleging unconstitutional grant screening
• ▪A class-action lawsuit filed by 17 scientists against the National Institutes of Health on September 16, 2026, is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Science in the Public Interest
• ▪A class-action lawsuit filed by 17 scientists against the National Institutes of Health on September 16, 2026, names National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Department of Government Efficiency as defendants

Keyword-based grant review process

• ▪In 2025, more than 700 National Institutes of Health grantees changed their grant titles to remove phrases like 'equity,' 'disparity,' and 'racism' during renegotiation processes
• ▪In a July 2026 court stipulation, the National Institutes of Health's head of extramural research wrote that the National Institutes of Health used search terms to identify and terminate grants presumed to express disfavored viewpoints
• ▪The National Institutes of Health uses a list of 235 keywords, including terms like 'gender,' 'Latinx,' and 'climate change,' to flag research grants for termination, denial, or forced renegotiation
• ▪National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya denied in July 2026 that the agency uses banned word lists or screens for verboten phrases

Researcher First Amendment claims

• ▪Plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed by 17 scientists against the National Institutes of Health on September 16, 2026, allege that the National Institutes of Health's grant screening process violates the First Amendment by suppressing disfavored viewpoints on topics like diversity, gender identity, and climate change
• ▪Johns Hopkins University social epidemiologist Michael Green was required to remove the words 'discrimination' and 'Black' from his National Institutes of Health grant title to secure postdoctoral funding
• ▪Stanford University clinical associate professor Arghavan Salles had a National Institutes of Health R01 grant on sexual harassment in biomedical research terminated as diversity, equity, and inclusion-related

Prior federal court rulings

• ▪A federal appeals court ruled in May 2026 that the National Institutes of Health's grant terminations likely violated the First Amendment, a decision the Trump administration that returned to office in 2025 has asked the Supreme Court to review
• ▪In August 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States allowed the National Institutes of Health to proceed with cutting $783 million in diversity, equity, and inclusion-related grants
• ▪In June 2025, a federal court ruled that the National Institutes of Health's diversity, equity, and inclusion-related grant terminations were unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act

Debatable claims

• ▪The federal government should defund health equity and diversity research
• ▪Political oversight should not override scientific peer review in federal grant decisions
• ▪The NIH's keyword-based grant screening violates the First Amendment