The U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. has lifted a preliminary injunction on federal funding for stem cell research. Meaning that this court views tax-payer dollars as fair game for funding stem-cell projects. This time, the judges concluded that federal funding "is not prohibited by a 1996 law that bars the use of federal money for research in which an embryo is destroyed."

The ruling overturns a decision last August that blocked government-backed funding and proved a political setback at the time for Obama. The 2-1 decision in the most recent case, however, was hailed as a "significant" victory for the President as the administration will now be able to continue funding embryonic stem-cell projects. But, as Bloomberg notes, the ruling is only the latest wrinkle in the legal wrangling: a lower court judge is still sorting through whether such funding violates the law.

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Erik Hayden