Scientists Sue NIH Over Grant Keyword Screening

Published 17 hours ago

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Above: **Watermarked Getty Image. Kindly Replace** The National Institutes of Health (NIH) logo on a smartphone screen in Athens, Greece, on May 22, 2026. Image credit: Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Spin

Blocking biomedical research over a blacklist of 235 words like "gender," "equity" and "climate change" is censorship dressed up as priority setting. Congress required that NIH grants be awarded on scientific merit, not a political litmus test, and the First Amendment bars punishing scientists for views the administration dislikes. Alzheimer's and kidney disease studies died for nothing.

Science American Civil Liberties Union

There is no First Amendment right to a taxpayer-funded NIH grant. Agencies get to set research priorities and shift funding toward new topics, and losing out on a subsidy is not censorship. This suit is frivolous and belongs in the dustbin.

Richard H. Ebright on X

Paul D. Thacker on X

Metaculus Prediction

There is a 50% chance that the National Institutes of Health’s actual obligations will be $49.7 billion in fiscal year 2028, according to the Metaculus prediction community.