California: Judge Rules Stem Cell Agency Legal

April 24, 2006

The Associate Press calls it “an unambiguous victory” for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Established by Proposition 71, the stem cell institute had been challenged as unconstitutional on two grounds: (1) Prop 71 proposed two subjects on a single ballot measure (“the judge said she found no evidence to support that claim”) and (2) the board, which controls $300 million in taxpayer funds per year, is not accountable to the state government (“in a 42-page verdict, the judge rejected those arguments and all others challenging the agency’s legality”).

An appeal is likely to follow, and one of the lawyers is reportedly going to ask the California Supreme Court to take the case directly.