Overruled

A federal appeals court has rejected restrictions imposed on federal financing of stem cell research by federal judge Royce Lamberth eight months ago, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education's Paul Basken. Last August, Lamberth ruled that President Obama's 2009 executive order, which allows federal funds to be used to study a large number of human embryonic stem cells lines, violates a ban on federal money being used to destroy embryos. But now, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that stem cell research may continue while a final resolution to the matter is litigated, Basken says. The ruling upholds previous decisions by appeals courts allowing NIH to continue funding stem cell research despite Lamberth's injuction. Francis Collins said he was "delighted and relieved to learn of the decision," and a White House spokesman called the decision "a victory for our scientists and patients around the world," Basken reports.