The Supreme Court allows Trump to cut $800 million in DEI research grants

The Supreme Court Justices (SCOTUS) allowed the Trump administration to cut nearly $800 million in grants for research on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The justices on the nation's highest court ruled in favor of the White House. They argued that this money did not go to scientific research or improve the health of citizens.

The ruling was decided with five votes in favor and four against. In the majority were Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, while John Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson were in the minority. Within the conservative group, only Roberts, the chief justice, voted against.

The decision partially lifted the ruling by a Boston judge, William Young, who had previously blocked this cut at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the lawsuit, they asserted that the Trump administration's decision was "an unprecedented disruption to ongoing research."

Months later, in June, Young blocked the cuts following a series of lawsuits filed by 16 Democratic attorneys general and other health groups.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court agreed to stay the portion of the ruling that struck down the end of the subsidies while the court process continues in appeals.

"[U]nless we wish anarchy to prevail within the federal judicial system, a precedent of this Court must be followed by the lower federal courts no matter how misguided the judges of those courts may think it to be. (...)Lower court judges may sometimes disagree with this Court's decisions, but they are never free to defy them," Justice Gorsuch, who was nominated by Donald Trump in 2017, wrote.

The most extensive dissent came from Justice Jackson, who wrote 21 pages: "This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins."