The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has halted further terminations of research grants following a federal judge's ruling that previous cancellations on politically sensitive topics were illegal. The judge deemed the directives that led to the cancellation of more than 2,400 NIH-funded projects "bereft of reasoning." In response, the NIH has instructed staff to reinstate approximately 900 grants that had been canceled under the Trump administration's blacklisting policy. Analysis shows that the reinstated grants predominantly benefit researchers in Democratic congressional districts, with $2.1 billion in grants reinstated in blue states compared to $62 million in Republican districts. Despite the reinstatements, NIH has not rescinded the original directives. Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has developed a legal strategy for future research grant terminations, as revealed in an internal memo.