A lawsuit is being brought against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, as well as the NIH and HHS as public agencies. The suit attempts to block the new stem cell research Guidelines, and to end federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Here is my layman’s understanding of the case. First, the Plaintiffs, and why they feel they have “suffered irreparable damage” by the new Guidelines, and claim standing in the case: Dr. James L. Sherley and Dr. Theresa Deisher are adult stem cell researchers, who allege they will be injured financially if limited federal dollars are diverted to embryonic stem cell research, resulting in less funding for their area of specialization. Nightlight Christian Adoptions describes itself as a non-profit which “protects human embryos conceived through In Vitro Fertility procedure”. They claim injury through decreased number of embryos available for “adoption” from the new stem cell guidelines; they claim guardianship of Plaintiff Embryos, (some portion of roughly 440,000 in storage at present, plus more in future), describing said blastocysts as “minor persons”. (Read on …)