ADF considering all options for appeal in embryonic stem cell funding case

Federal judge says federal funding of embryonic stem cell research will continue in light of higher court’s decision to reverse his decision

WASHINGTON — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys together with Samuel B. Casey of the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project and Tom Hungar of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, are weighing all of their options for appeal in light of a federal judge’s ruling Wednesday that allows federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to continue. The judge explained that he believes his hands have been tied by an appellate court decision that reversed his August 2010 order to stop the funding in light of a federal law that prohibits it.

“Americans should not be forced to pay for experiments that destroy human life, have produced no real-world treatments, and violate federal law,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “The district court’s injunction simply enforced that law, which makes sure Americans don’t pay any more precious taxpayer dollars for needless research made irrelevant by adult stem cell and other research. The law is clear, and we intend to review all of our options for appeal of this decision. In these tough economic times, it makes no sense for the federal government to use taxpayer money for this illegal and unethical purpose.”

“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…,’ such is life for an antepenultimate court,” the judge wrote. “Therefore the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion that the term ‘research’ in the Dickey-Wicker Amendment is ambiguous binds this Court.”

Hungar argued the case, Sherley v. Sebelius, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in December of last year with regard to the original injunction. They, together with Advocates International and ADF attorneys, represent doctors opposed to an Obama administration policy that authorized the National Institutes of Health to fund additional research projects that destroy human embryos even though a federal law known as the Dickey/Wicker Amendment specifically prohibits such funding. 

• Pronunciation guide: Aden (Ay’-din)