Trump Seeks Durable Science Policy After Court Losses
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- The Trump administration fired thousands of federal civil servants who academic researchers treated as partners in conducting their work during its first year
- The administration terminated an unprecedented number of scientific projects that had been funded by previous administrations
- Universities were pressured to abandon diversity programs and work to curb health disparities
- The administration attempted on a Friday evening to push through a dramatic change to how the government reimburses universities for research overhead
- Federal courts rapidly challenged these actions, resulting in the administration walking back multiple policies because they ran afoul of the Administrative Procedures Act
- Andrew Twinamatsiko, director of Georgetown's Center for Health Policy and the Law, characterized the first year as "tempests that we could weather" until a new administration could revert to baseline
Why it matters: By pursuing durable rule changes instead of abandoning its scientific restructuring, the administration is closing the window Twinamatsiko described—where court wins simply reset the baseline once a new administration arrives—making the long-term policy footprint harder to undo even if the White House changes hands.
