Judge allows the National Science Foundation to withhold hundreds of millions of research dollars

Source: Associated Press

Judge allows the National Science Foundation to withhold hundreds of millions of research dollars

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN
Updated 6:00 PM EDT, August 1, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Science Foundation can continue to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars from researchers in several states until litigation aimed at restoring it plays out, a federal court ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge John Cronan in New York declined to force the NSF to restart payments immediately, while the case is still being decided, as requested by the sixteen Democrat-led states who brought the suit, including New York, Hawaii, California, Colorado and Connecticut.

In his ruling, Cronan said he would not grant the preliminary injunction in part because it may be that another court, the Court of Federal Claims, has jurisdiction over what is essentially a case about money. He also said the states failed to show that NSF’s actions were counter to the agency’s mandate.

The lawsuit filed in May alleges that the National Science Foundation’s new grant-funding priorities as well as a cap on what’s known as indirect research expenses “violate the law and jeopardize America’s longstanding global leadership in STEM.”

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/nsf-funding-lawsuit-trump-stem-1429bf2a2413506e58cca95c55196889