{"id":354,"date":"2026-06-02T04:07:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=354"},"modified":"2026-06-02T04:07:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:07:29","slug":"federal-judge-blocks-trump-administrations-first-move-to-break-up-boulder-based-ncar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=354","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge blocks Trump administration\u2019s first move to break up Boulder-based NCAR"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"136px\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_GK70XT8NlEa?client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.8\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration\u2019s first major attempt to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, ruling that halting the move was in the public interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=352\">\u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79 One year after the Pearl Street attack, a community gathers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, the National Science Foundation, which funds NCAR, began taking steps to transfer NCAR\u2019s Wyoming Supercomputing Center to the University of Wyoming. NCAR uses the supercomputing center for computing capacity and data storage, and the proposed transfer was part of a broader Trump administration effort to break up the Boulder-based lab and shift parts of the institution to new public or private operators.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The scientific community has pushed back on the plan, arguing that breaking up one of the world\u2019s leading atmospheric research institutions would undermine scientific research and leave the United States less prepared to respond to extreme weather events.<\/p>\n<p>In March, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit consortium of 129 universities that manages NCAR under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation, sued the agency to stop the transfer of the supercomputing center and block funding cuts to NCAR.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to keep the supercomputing center under NCAR\u2019s management while the case proceeds, writing that UCAR was likely to prevail and that allowing the transfer to proceed would harm NCAR.<\/p>\n<p>Of about 60 UCAR employees who manage the supercomputing center, eight have left in the past four months, leaving the center understaffed, according to the court opinion, with several citing uncertainty about the organization\u2019s future as their reason for leaving.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNSF\u2019s unexplained decision to divest UCAR of stewardship over the NWSC [NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center] has already begun to erode the personnel, institutional capacity, and financial stability necessary to carry out [UCAR\u2019s] responsibilities,\u201d Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote in his opinion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat erosion is likely to continue, further compromising UCAR\u2019s ability to fulfill its organizational mandate,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are pleased that Judge Jackson recognized how damaging the proposed transfer of the NWSC to another operator would be for the nation\u2019s scientific community,\u201d said UCAR Interim President Eric Barron.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur work supports national security, public safety, and economic prosperity, and any steps made toward divesting NCAR of its high-performance computing facilities would risk disrupting the country\u2019s extraordinary advances in weather and space weather modeling and forecasting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Joe Neguse also praised the ruling. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, a federal court took the first step toward blocking the president from unilaterally dissolving, selling, or relocating key programs operated by NCAR,\u201d he said in a statement, adding that the Trump administration\u2019s attempts to break up NCAR were \u201creckless, dangerous, and undermine the work being done at Boulder\u2019s cutting-edge research institution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has been taking steps to break up NCAR since December. The plans were broadly publicized on X in an announcement by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, in which he called the lab \u201cone of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The announcement followed months of criticism by President Trump of Gov. Jared Polis over the conviction of Tina Peters, a former Colorado election official convicted of felonies related to 2020 election conspiracy theories.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=351\">Bob Yates: Debating a Boulder flag reveals much about our community<\/a><\/p>\n<p>UCAR\u2019s lawsuit argues that the administration\u2019s attempts to break up NCAR, including transferring the supercomputing center, were retaliation for Polis\u2019 refusal to pardon Peters and were therefore unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>UCAR also argued that the Trump administration had failed to follow proper procedure to transfer the center.<\/p>\n<p>During a May 7 hearing, a federal attorney argued that the NSF had not taken final action to transfer management of the center and therefore was not violating the law. The government presented the judge with a statement from NSF Acting Director Rebecca Keiser that a final decision had not been made.<\/p>\n<p>UCAR disputed this claim, relying on two key pieces of evidence:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>First, a Feb. 12  from NSF to NCAR leadership stating that \u201cNSF has decided to transfer stewardship of the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputer [sic] Center (NWSC).\u201d Second, a statement made by NSF Program Officer Steven Ellis in March to NCAR officials after they pushed back on the transfer, in which he said: \u201cThis is a decision made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked why the decision had been made, Ellis responded: \u201cBecause NSF has said so.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jackson, an Obama appointee, agreed with UCAR on this point.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cThe record leaves no doubt that NSF has reached a final decision,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson also wrote that the lack of an explanation for the decision made it likely UCAR would win its procedural argument, since procedure requires government agencies to articulate adequate reasons for their decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Ellis\u2019 blunt response that UCAR was losing stewardship over the NWSC [supercomputing center] \u2018[b]ecause NSF has said so\u2019 underscores the lack of any explanation in the record,\u201d Jackson wrote.<\/p>\n<p>During May 7 arguments, Department of Justice attorney Marianne F. Kies told the judge that, \u201cDr. Ellis\u2019 statements were misinterpreted, or that he himself misinterpreted what the guidance was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you misinterpret those statements?\u201d Jackson said. \u201cBecause to me, they\u2019re in plain English.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jackson ruled that the public would likely suffer harm if the supercomputing center was transferred, as it \u201csupports the efficient and uninterrupted data collection that supports more accurate climate-prediction modeling, which in turn is used to mitigate harmful extreme weather events that are a feature of our world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, he said NSF had not been able to articulate how it would be harmed by keeping management of the computing center under NCAR, and NSF had \u201cidentified no deficiency in UCAR\u2019s performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bouldermovingguide.com\/?p=350\">Boulder City Council to revisit airport\u2019s future at public hearing after contentious vote<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judge Jackson signaled the Trump administration is likely to lose the broader lawsuit over the breaking -up of NCAR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump-2-0-in-boulder","tag-ncar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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