Ban on stem-cell research funding blocked during appeal

In a legal victory for the White House, a federal appeals court in Washington temporarily blocked a lower-court ruling that would have halted federal funding of stem-cell research.

In their ruling late Thursday morning, three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said their order is temporary until they have time to more fully consider the White House's request. Thursday's ruling "should be not construed in any way as a ruling on the merits" of the administration's request for an emergency stay of the trial court's ruling during its appeal.

On Aug. 23, the National Institutes of Health was ordered by the U.S. District Court in Washington not to implement President Barack Obama's new HHS guidelines allowing the funding of human stem-cell research. On Monday, the same court also denied a White House emergency request to prevent that order from taking effect during an ongoing trial to permanently block the new HHS rules.

On Thursday, the appeals judges agreed to hear an emergency request to overturn the lower court's denial and issued the temporary stay on procedural grounds until at least Sept. 20, when full legal briefs on the matter are due before the appeals court.