Legal Action
Association of American Universities v. Department of Health and Human Services
Filed in: U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Summary
A coalition of American research universities and university associations sued the the Trump-Vance administration, challenging the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) federal funding cuts to facilities, equipment, personnel, and other indirect costs associated with medical and public health research. On February 7, 2025, NIH issued Notice Number NOT-OD-25-068 and announced it would immediately cut funding for indirect costs to an across-the-board rate of 15%. The plaintiffs in this case are research universities who receive NIH grants and awards that would be heavily impacted by the reduced indirect cost rate. The plaintiffs argued that Notice Number NOT-OD-25-068 violates the Administrative Procedure Act and seek declaratory, injunctive, and vacatur relief.
On Mar. 5, 2025, a district court entered an order granting a preliminary injunction in this case. An appeal ensued, culminating with the circuit court’s ruling on Jan. 5, 2026, affirming the lower court’s injunction on enforcement of and vacatur of the Supplemental Guidance.
Plaintiffs
- Association of American Universities
- American Council on Education
- Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities
- Brandeis University
- Brown University
- Regents of the University of California
- California Institute of Technology
- Carnegie Mellon University
- University of Chicago
- Cornell University
- George Washington University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
- University of Rochester
- Trustees of Tufts College
Plaintiffs' Counsel
- Jenner & Block LLP
- Clement & Murphy, PLLC
Defendants
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- National Institutes of Health
- Acting Secretary Dorothy Fink
- Acting Director Matthew J. Memoli