DC Circuit Upholds Obama Administration Guidelines For Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding

In a 2-1 decision today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated the district court's preliminary injunction that had prevented the Department of Health and Human Services from proceeding under the Obama administration's 2009 Guidelines expanding government funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The district court had found that the Guidelines likely violate the Dickey-Wicker Amendment's prohibition the use of federal funds for research in which human embryos are destroyed. (See prior posting.) The Circuit Court had already placed a stay on the preliminary injunction last September. (See prior posting.) Today in Sherley v. Sebelius, (DC Cir., April 29, 2011), the court's majority (Judge Ginsburg joined by Judge Griffith) concluded that:

Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to have concluded that, although Dickey-Wicker bars funding for the destructive act of deriving an ESC [embryonic stem cell] from an embryo, it does not prohibit funding a research project in which an ESC will be used.

Judge Henderson dissented, writing: "The majority opinion has taken a straightforward case of statutory construction and produced a result that would make Rube Goldberg tip his hat." ABC News reports on the decision.