The federal order temporarily halts the Trump administration’s plans to slash $4 billion in overhead costs for research at universities and medical centers into diseases like cancer.

Attorney generals from 22 states have filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for slashing funding for medical and public health research at universities nationwide.

Laboratories would literally go dark,” says a medical research insider, if Trump administration cuts to NIH funding go through. Patients will suffer from lost medical advances, he tells Scientific Ame

Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley puts on hold funding caps for indirect research costs such as lab security and administrative support. The administration's policy would slash funding for those expenses to 15% from the current 27% to 28% average, CBS News reported.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order hours after the lawsuit was filed and has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 21.

Universities and hospitals would need to cut their budgets under proposed changes to how medical research grants are funded by the National Institutes of Health. A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the cuts in response to a lawsuit joined by 22 states,

A coalition of 22 attorneys general sued the federal government, claiming that the $4 billion in cuts would “grind to a halt” studies on cancer, heart disease and other conditions.