Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joined two lawsuits Friday seeking to protect funding for the country’s libraries and museums and disruptions to the National Institutes of Health, continuing a Democratic attorneys general-led effort to fight the Trump administration’s executive orders in court.
Ford and 15 other states’ top attorneys sued the Trump administration in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts for disrupting grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and calling out the medical and public health research agency’s “unreasonable and intentional delays” in reviewing other grant applications.
“The Trump administration’s repeated attacks on public health funding have had significant impacts on Nevada’s researchers and caused uncertainty among our state’s scientific community,” Ford, a Democrat, said in a news release. “These cuts and delays are illegal and will damage scientists’ ability to begin vital public health research or, in some cases, conclude research which has already begun — these cuts have already stopped around $2.4 million in grant funding from going to UNLV researchers. I am confident in our ability to win in court and protect our scientific community’s efforts to protect the public.”
The lawsuit argues that the Department of Health and Human Services — which oversees NIH and is now led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also named in the suit — has been cancelling upcoming meetings and pushing off scheduling other meetings that are critical steps to NIH grant applications.
The 82-page complaint also alleges the department terminated already-issued grants for projects underway that related to their “perceived connection to ‘DEI,’ ‘transgender issues,’ ‘vaccine hesitancy,’ or another topic disfavored by the current administration. In boilerplate letters issued to the grants’ recipients, NIH claims that each cancelled project ‘no longer effectuates agency priorities.’”
The suit asks a judge to call the defendants’ actions as described in the suit as unconstitutional and compel the NIH to review and decide on delayed applications and renewals and restart the grants allegedly terminated.
Ford has previously joined lawsuits against the administration for similar efforts. He joined a Feb. 10 lawsuit against that sought to stop the termination of funding for medical research at universities.
A separate lawsuit, with a coalition of 21 states filed in U.S. District Court of Rhode Island, calls on a federal judge to stop President Donald Trump and his staff from closing the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and four other agencies as described in a March 14 executive order.
That 58-page complaint argues the administration unlawfully ended funding for the agencies — many of which were responsible for grants, labor relations, research and financial assistance programs — by ignoring the laws that govern each source of funding.
Neither the White House nor the DHHS responded to requests for comment Friday afternoon. Trump administration officials have previously said the federal funding cuts were part of its effort to curb federal spending and reduce the $1.15 trillion federal deficit. Other cuts have been tied to Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
According to the news release about the Rhode Island court complaint, the agency governing museums and library services sent out $180 million to the nations’ libraries in 2024.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.
