New lawsuit accuses Trump administration of blocking NIH grants as form of censorship
The administration has used a list of 235 keywords – such as ‘gender’ and ‘racist’ – to prevent topics from being funded
TL;DR
- Researchers have filed a class action lawsuit against the NIH, alleging the Trump administration is censoring scientific research by blocking and canceling grants.
- The administration reportedly uses a list of 235 keywords to prevent funding for topics it disagrees with, adding an ideological layer to the scientific review process.
- The lawsuit, supported by the ACLU and others, claims this practice violates the First Amendment by censoring speech.
- Scientists like Ann Cohen and Arghavan Salles have described how funding cancellations have halted critical research and forced them to alter their descriptions to avoid flagged keywords.
- The suit seeks to cover researchers whose grants have been impacted by these cancellations or denials.