Judge William G. Young of the District of Massachusetts presided over the case that would become NIH v. APHA. In this case, a majority of the Court held that a suit over cuts to funding belongs in the Court of Federal Claims. This ruling followed directly from an earlier ruling, California v. Texas. Justice Gorsuch wrote a sharp concurrence, chiding Judge Young, and other judges, for defying Supreme Court orders. (I discuss this history in my Civitas column.) While writing this piece, I speculated aloud what could possibly be motivating judges who took actions that were inconsistent with the Supreme Court's emergency docket rulings.
Judge Young, to his credit, has shed some light on his thinking. Regrettably, these insights cast even more doubt on the Judge's decision-making authority.
The New York Times offers this account:
