A federal judge has ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to resume grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell argued in a 52-page opinion that AAP is likely to succeed in its claims that HHS violated the First Amendment by cutting $12 million in grants. “This is a case about whether the federal government has exercised power in a manner designed to chill public health policy debate by retaliating against a leading and generally trusted pediatrician member professional organization focused on improving the health of children,” the judge wrote.
According to Howell, the AAP has “marshaled substantial and undisputed evidence from statements and other actions by HHS leadership and officials that demonstrate the likelihood of retaliatory motive for the grant terminations at issue.”
The opinion notes that AAP claims that the Trump administration is “using its power to terminate multi-year grants as part of a retaliatory campaign designed to chill AAP’s speech on vaccines and other important public-health issues that differ from the views of the current HHS leadership.” Howell asserts that “[s]uch retaliatory government action is at odds with the First Amendment.”
The original complaint, filed in December, argued that HHS’s actions “undermine the health and safety of all Americans by senselessly slashing programs that help pediatricians detect, prevent, and [manage] fatal and debilitating illnesses and conditions.” The grants were designed for programs combating sudden infant death syndrome, preventing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, universal newborn hearing screenings, and assisting pediatricians in rural communities, the complaint describes.
