HONOLULU - Hawai?i Attorney General Anne Lopez has issued the following statement after a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the National Institutes of Health (NIH), barring its attempt to unilaterally cut billions in funding for biomedical and public health research:   

“The court’s swift action provides a temporary halt to the Trump administration’s attempts to cut critical, lifesaving medical research funding for public health institutions,” said Attorney General Lopez. “I will continue to do everything within my legal authority to fight for the people of Hawai?i and enforce the rule of law.” 

The TRO comes less than six hours after Attorney General Lopez and a coalition of 21 other attorneys general sued the Trump Administration for violating laws that preserve NIH grants for medical research against arbitrary and unilateral cuts, of the type attempted by the Trump Administration. The TRO stops the NIH from taking any steps to implement or enforce their attempted across-the-board reduction in research grants within the Plaintiff states until a further order is made by the Court.  

A hearing has been scheduled in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts on Friday, February 21 at 10 a.m. More information about the lawsuit can be found here.