NIH motion to stay the injunction against the use of federal funding for hESC research

Please take a look at this document prepared on behalf of the NIH regarding the recent injunction handed down by a DC district court, Judge Lamberth presiding. It's dense reading and I don't understand all of it but there are a few interesting facts.

The two plaintiffs who brought the original suit argue that they were harmed by the competition of hESC (Human Embryonic Stem Cell) researchers applying for NIH grants.

Fact: the one researcher has NEVER applied for an NIH grant and the other currently has a grant for his research using adult stem cells.

Fact: NIH awards grants based on merit alone, each application is reviewed and receives a grade. There is no competition between or within areas of interest per se. There is no limit to the number of projects receiving funding based on subject alone, only on merit of the study.

Fact: human embryos are not destroyed by the researchers using the stem cell lines for research. The embryo that produced the lines was at one time destroyed. The resulting lines are used by scientists to research cures, they do not need to destroy an embryo to do their research.

Fact: the Dickey-Wicker amendment passed by Congress specifically refers to research that results in the destruction of the embryo. Does it refer to research that subsequently uses material from an embryo that was previously destroyed?

What do you think?