Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has joined a coalition of 16 other attorneys general in filing a suit against President Donald Trump’s administration over its “unlawful” cuts to grant funding from the National Institutes of Health.
In a news release on Friday, Brown said the “interference with NIH grant funding” is reckless and “an attack on the very institutions that power scientific innovation and medical breakthroughs.”
Billions of dollars from the NIH’s budget go toward funding studies and programs at universities, hospitals and other research groups. The agency’s grants support hundreds of thousands of jobs every year and have generated more than $94 billion in new economic activity in 2024 alone.
Without those grants, scientists say they’d have to halt lifesaving work.
On top of the cuts, about 1,200 jobs are expected to be cut as part of the layoffs at the Health and Human Service Department.
“This administration is jeopardizing public health and undermining decades of scientific progress with its shameless disregard for the truth and the well-being of our communities. We will not let this egregious assault on science and public health go unchecked,” Brown wrote.
The lawsuit states that “NIH-supported research has had a profound impact on the health and wellbeing of the American people,” and with the current funding cuts, “that critical work is now in jeopardy.”
The complaint alleges that due to the Trump administration’s “unreasonable and intentional” delays of the grant application process, billions of dollars in requested funding have been left on the table. It also said projects perceived to be connected to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues have had their already-issued grants terminated.
The coalition of attorneys general are arguing that the delays and terminations of grant funding have directly harmed state public research institutions.
“For example, NIH has terminated 11 grants amounting to approximately $15 million in research funding for University of Maryland Baltimore and nine grants amounting to approximately $1 million in research funding for University of Maryland College Park,” the Office of the Attorney General wrote in the release.
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