Stem Cell Ruling Appeal Expected In Case

By: John Lester
08/24/2010 06:59 PM ET

Stem cell ruling appeal expected in case. The Obama Administration will appeal a federal judge’s ruling on stem cell research. The federal judge claims that it’s illegal for the federal government to fund embryonic stem cell research.

Justice department lawyers will ask an appeals court in Washington to overturn a temporary ban on federal funding for human embryo projects. A federall judge imposed a preliminary injunction on the government. It also concluded that two researchers challenging the Obama stem cell policy stood a good chance of success as the case moved ahead in the courts.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth threw the research community into chaos. Scientists have been struggling to understand the implications of a funding stoppage. Now the administration says it will seek to lift the preliminary injunction while it appeals Lamberth’s ruling.

The appeal is expected this week, said spokesman Matthew Miller. “From what we can tell, this would also stop the research that President (George W.) Bush had allowed to go forward early in his presidency,” White House spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. “So we’re exploring all possible avenues to make sure that we can continue to do this critical lifesaving research.”

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