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