Judge Reluctantly Legalizes Federal Funding of Stem-Cell Research

Judge Royce Lamberth, the chief judge of the US District Court for DC and the guy who originally granted a preliminary injunction against stem-cell research in the case of Sherley et al v Sibelius et al (and created a lot of havoc within the NIH and among US stem-cell researchers), has now decided that it's all okay—begrudgingly. On Wednesday, Lamberth issued his ruling on a permanent injunction that makes federal funding of research with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) legal (go here for the Nature News Blog's story).

Lamberth's decision on a permanent injunction was evidently informed by the opinions of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which shot down Lamberth's original, preliminary injunction last April. At the heart of Lamberth's newly revised opinion is the remaining ambiguity of "research." He concludes,

...the DC Circuit has made it abundantly clear that the term is ambiguous as a matter of law. While it may be true that by following the Court of Appeals' conclusion as to the ambiguity of "research," this Court has become a grudging partner in a bout of "linguistic jujitsu," [quoting a phrase from the Appeals Court's dissenting opinion], such is life for an antepenultimate court.

And so, for the losing plaintiffs, their option is to accept Lamberth's reluctant decision or to pursue their case to the ultimate court.*

* US District Court for DC = antepenultimate court; US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit = penultimate court; Supreme Court = ultimate court.