A federal judge lambasted the Trump administration for its cuts to National Institutes of Health research grants focused on minority groups, ruling such cuts were illegal and constituted “palpable” racial discrimination.

Boston-based U.S. District Judge William Young ordered that the funds be restored to the research projects during a Monday hearing in the case brought by 16 state attorneys general and other groups against the Trump administration over its cancellation of NIH grants — action taken in response to two executive orders, with one seeking to destroy “discriminatory” DEI programs, and the other declaring “Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology.”

Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said he had “never seen government racial discrimination like this” in his 40 years on the bench.

“I am hesitant to draw this conclusion — but I have an unflinching obligation to draw it — that this represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community,” Young said on Monday, per Politico. “That’s what this is. I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out.”

“You are bearing down on people of color because of their color,” Young reportedly later told administration lawyers. “The Constitution will not permit that. … Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?”

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The judge asked government lawyers to offer a formal definition of DEI, according to The Associated Press, appearing dubious that grants could be canceled for that reason when Congress appropriated funds to address health disparities.

The Trump administration is “exploring all legal options” Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for NIH’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, told The Associated Press; an appeal is likely.

“HHS stands by its decision to end funding for research that prioritized ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for the American people,” he added.

In a statement to Politico, a White House spokesman had harsher words.

“It is appalling that a federal judge would use court proceedings to express his political views and preferences,” White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai said. “How is a judge going to deliver an impartial decision when he explicitly stated his biased opinion that the Administration’s retraction of illegal DEI funding is racist and anti-LGBTQ?”