A federal judge in New York has ruled against 16 states that demanded the Trump administration be forced to reinstate hundreds of millions in grant funding canceled by the National Science Foundation starting in April.
By May, the list had grown to more than $1 billion in canceled project funding. The states filed the lawsuit to recover the money after congressional Democrats wrote to the NSF and demanded answers about what the minority members of the House Science Committee described as "political" actions conducted by "an Administration that is unparalleled in its hostility to American science."
The New York Times reported that the Friday decision in the case by U.S. District Court Judge John Cronan in Manhattan indicated the primary reason for not accepting the merits of the case was that a suit demanding monetary damages from the federal government has to be filed with the Court of Federal Claims in Washington.
The judge also noted, according to the Times, that the suit claimed the NSF's change in policy toward grant funding ran contrary to a previous focus on science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, subjects, which is critical to America leading the world in those fields. But Cronan wrote that the foundation continued to fund projects in those areas.
An April announcement by the NSF indicated its new funding criteria would no longer supply funding for projects unless they met "principles of merit, competition, equal opportunity." It went further to say funding would be declined if projects "preference some groups at the expense of others, or directly/indirectly exclude individuals or groups."
That falls in line with President Donald Trump's directive that his administration was not going to support diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Trump's executive order on that issue was issued within hours of his taking the oath of office for his second term in January.
The Times reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James, who helped coordinate the states involved in the lawsuit, was reviewing options following the release of the decision.
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