A federal judge in Boston has ruled that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) must immediately restore approximately 400 grants touching on politically sensitive topics that it abruptly canceled earlier this year. In his ruling today after a morning hearing, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts William Young said the agency's decision to terminate grants in areas such as racial health disparities and transgender health were arbitrary and capricious, meaning there was no legally valid process behind its reasoning.

Young also said the terminations were rooted in discrimination against racial, sexual, and gender minority groups. "I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out," he said.