Federal Court Orders Trump Administration to Restore $12 Million in Pediatric Grants After Finding HHS Retaliation

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the Trump administration to restore nearly $12 million in federal grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics, ruling that the Department of Health and Human Services likely acted with a retaliatory motive when it terminated the funding late last year.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued a preliminary injunction on Sunday blocking HHS from enforcing the grant terminations while the lawsuit proceeds. In her 52-page opinion, Howell emphasized that this case is “not about whether AAP or HHS is right or even has the better position on vaccinations and gender-affirming care for children, or any other public health policy.” Instead, it centers on “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 American Academy of Pediatrics sued HHS after seven multiyear grants were abruptly terminated in December. The lawsuit, which argues the cuts violated its First Amendment rights, states that three of the terminated grants were awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and four by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Howell determined that evidence indicated the academy was likely targeted because it publicly disagreed with positions taken by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccines and gender-transition care.

The ruling noted that the terminated grants, which totaled nearly $12 million in undisbursed funds for 2025, represented almost two-thirds of the academy’s federal funding. Howell found that the organization would suffer irreparable harm without court intervention, including layoffs, program shutdowns, and damage to its reputation and partnerships.

Kennedy has publicly criticized the academy for receiving funding from pharmaceutical companies and vaccine manufacturers. The academy broke with HHS last year by continuing to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for infants and toddlers after the Food and Drug Administration said healthy young children no longer needed it. The group also publicly objected when Kennedy dismissed the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel.

Howell clarified that none of the terminated grants were directly related to vaccines or gender-transition care, and that agency staff overseeing the programs reportedly had no knowledge the funding was about to be cut. The academy warned that its programs would abruptly cease, staff would be laid off, and families nationwide would lose access to critical pediatric health services without the injunction. Mark Del Monte, the academy’s chief executive officer and executive vice president, stated in a separate statement: “Sunday’s court action offers welcome relief for children and families, who benefit from these important services that make communities safer and healthier.”

Howell also noted that suspending federal grants is permissible only in emergency situations involving demonstrated national harm—a standard she said the administration failed to meet.