Trump science policy hits court roadblocks in year one
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- The Trump administration fired thousands of federal civil servants whom academic researchers described as partners in their work during its first year.
- The administration terminated an unprecedented number of scientific projects funded by previous administrations and pressured universities to abandon diversity programs and health-disparity initiatives.
- On a Friday evening, the government attempted to push through a dramatic overhaul of how it reimburses universities for research overhead.
- All of these first-year actions were challenged in federal court, with the Administrative Procedures Act forcing the administration to walk back multiple policies.
- Andrew Twinamatsiko, director of Georgetown University's Center for Health Policy and the Law, called the court losses "tempests that we could weather" until a new administration could revert to the prior baseline.
Why it matters: Reliance on the Administrative Procedures Act to block multiple science policies means the administration must now pursue more legally durable approaches — a shift that directly affects how universities, researchers, and federal science staff plan for the remainder of the term. Twinamatsiko frames these court losses as temporary rather than permanent setbacks.
