Preliminary Injunction Bars Application of Obama Administration Stem Cell Research Guidelines

Yesterday in Sherley v. Sebelius, (D DC, Aug. 23, 2010), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Obama administration from applying it Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research. Those Guidelines expanded federally funded research involving embryonic stem cells. The court concluded that plaintiff's had shown a likelihood of success on the merits on their argument that the Guidelines violate the Dickey-Wicker Amendment that prohibits the use of federal funds for research in which human embryos are destroyed.  The court rejected the government's attempt to distinguish between deriving stem cells from an embryo and conducting research on those stem cells.  The New York Times reports that there is confusion over whether the preliminary injunction impacts research projects already funded. (See prior related posting.)