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Following Lawsuit by Coalition, The Trump Administration Has Agreed to Cease Delays in Reviewing NIH Grant Applications
BALTIMORE, MD — Attorney General Anthony G. Brown secured a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) providing that HHS will resume the review process for critical medical and public health research grants issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that have been unlawfully delayed by the Trump administration. The agreement resolves claims made in a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Brown and a coalition of 16 attorneys general in April, challenging the administration’s unreasonable and intentional delays in reviewing NIH grant applications.
“Maryland researchers and institutions have waited far too long for answers on hundreds of grant applications unlawfully delayed by the Trump administration,” said Attorney General Brown. “This settlement finally provides the certainty they need to continue groundbreaking medical research and public health work that benefits Maryland families.”
NIH grant applications typically undergo several rounds of rigorous review by subject-matter experts and agency officials who assess each proposal’s scientific merit in light of funding availability and agency priorities. Earlier this year, the administration took the unprecedented step of cancelling upcoming meetings for the agency’s review panels and delaying the scheduling of future meetings. The administration also indefinitely withheld issuing final decisions on applications that had already received approval from the relevant review panels, leaving the plaintiff states awaiting decisions on billions of dollars in requested research funding.
As a result of the administration’s delays and terminations, the states alleged that their public research institutions experienced significant harm. More than 200 research funding applications from researchers at Maryland’s universities have been held in limbo awaiting decisions. The delays caused budget shortfalls for the universities’ research and academic programs and disrupted the admission and enrollment of the new graduate students who will make up the next generation of research scientists.
This settlement agreement commits HHS to resuming the usual process for considering NIH grant applications, including the delayed applications from Maryland’s universities, on a prompt, agreed-upon timeline. The agreement complements the coalition’s victory in an earlier phase of the lawsuit, in which the plaintiff states challenged unlawful directives that targeted NIH projects based on their perceived connection to “DEI,” “transgender issues,” “vaccine hesitancy,” and other topics disfavored by the Trump administration. The District Court found for the plaintiff states and set aside the unlawful directives; a hearing on the federal government’s appeal of that decision is scheduled for January 6, 2026. The current settlement agreement limits NIH from applying the unlawful directives while reviewing applications for new grants.
Joining Attorney General Brown in reaching this settlement are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
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