Judge Christopher Cooper of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) likely acted in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner when it canceled 53 of 66 active grants in June. The policy shift, spearheaded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sought to steer federal funding away from comprehensive sex education toward programs focusing on "body literacy" and abstinence.
In his ruling, Cooper challenged the administration’s reliance on evidence, noting that HHS cited public health studies that either do not exist or fail to support their claims—a characterization he labeled a "hallmark of AI-generated citations." While the judge stopped short of immediately reinstating the $67 million in terminated funding, he affirmed that Congress intended for the program to support a broad range of evidence-based strategies rather than a single ideological approach. Plaintiffs, including Hennepin County and Planned Parenthood, now face a September 1 deadline to propose a schedule for further legal proceedings aimed at securing a permanent injunction.
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