The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars� worth of research funding in its push to roll back federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

The Justice Department argued a federal judge in Massachusetts was wrong to block the National Institutes of Health from making $783 million worth of cuts to align with President Donald Trump�s priorities.

U.S. District Judge William Young found that the abrupt cancellations ignored long-held government rules and standards.

Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, also said the cuts amounted to �racial discrimination and discrimination against America�s LGBTQ community.�

The ruling came in lawsuits filed by 16 attorneys general, public-health advocacy groups and some affected scientists. His decision addressed only a fraction of the hundreds of NIH research projects that have been cut.

The Trump administration�s appeal also takes aim at nearly two dozen cases over funding.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer pointed to a 5-4 decision on the Supreme Court�s emergency docket from April that allowed cuts to teacher training programs to go forward. That decisions shows that district judges shouldn�t be hearing those cases at all, but rather sending them to federal claims court, he argued.

(AP)