Judge Lamberth’s court injunction on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research was temporarily lifted September 9, but much remains in question. In today’s edition of Nature (September 23rd), a legal panel examines the case. Panelist Patrick Taylor, former Chief Counsel for Research Affairs at Children’s, weighs in on the ambiguities of the Dickey-Wicker amendment, what kind of legislative action is needed, and the prospects for NIH funding of research on the embryonic stem cell lines created under Obama, the so-called Bush Lines, and new lines waiting to be created.