Responding to an emergency appeal by government lawyers, the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit temporarily reversed a lower court judge’s ruling freezing US government funding for human embryonic stem cell research.
The appeals court said on Thursday morning that the research should be allowed to resume while it considers the government’s emergency appeal, but that its action “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits” of the appeal.
The stay reads in part:
09/09/2010 CLERK’S ORDER
“ORDERED that the district court’s August 23, 2010 order be stayed pending further order of the court. FURTHER ORDERED that appellees file a response to the emergency motion by September 14, 2010, at 4:00 p.m. The appellants may file a reply by 4:00 p.m. on September 20, 2010.”
The legalese suggests that federally funded research may resume, if only for a brief period, both on the NIH campus and at institutions where NIH extramural grantees work. The timing, in the last month of the government’s fiscal year, could allow NIH to push more human embryonic stem cell research money out the door at a crucial time. For instance, 24 human embryonic stem cells grants are set to receive their annual funding this month.
The appeals court gave the plaintiffs until September 14 to respond to the government’s emergency appeal. The government will then have until September 20 to answer the response.
While the appeals court considers the government’s appeal, it’s expected that the lower court judge, Royce Lamberth, will delay ruling on a request by the plaintiffs to make a quick decision on the case. That request to Lamberth is expected tomorrow.
A complete list of Great Beyond entries tracking this story can be found here.
For Nature’s analysis of the ruling and its impact see:
Stem-cell bill may need fixing
US stem-cell chaos felt abroad
The legalese behind the funding freeze