The complex series of legal battles over US federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research appears to have drawn to a close.
The
complex series of legal battles over US federal funding for human embryonic
stem cell (hESC) research appears to have drawn to a close. A
decision by district court Judge Royce C Lamberth, rejected a 2009 lawsuit
challenging an Obama administration policy to increase funding hESC research,
which had been restricted under President George W Bush. The plaintiffs,
researchers Dr James Sherley and Theresa Deishler, argued that funding hESC
research broke federal law.

Initially
Judge Lamberth had agreed with them. In August 2010 he issued an injunction in
which stopped research funding until the case was settled. Within weeks, a US
Court of Appeals panel overturned Lamberth’s injunction. On Wednesday Lamberth
deferred to the appeals court’s interpretation of the law. Sherley and Deishler
can still appeal the ruling, but first they will have to face a court – the US
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia – that has already ruled against
their argument. ~ Los Angeles
Times, Jul 27

US stem cell research will go ahead
Jared Yee
embryonic stem cells
stem cell research
US