Attorney General Phil Weiser sues Trump administration over illegal cuts to National Science Foundation funding

May 28, 2025 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser today joined a coalition of 15 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop its illegal attempts to cut critical funding for the National Science Foundation, or NSF, including millions for Colorado colleges and universities.

On April 18, NSF began terminating projects focused on increasing the participation of women, minorities, and people with disabilities in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and math, also known as STEM. On May 2, NSF announced it would also cap indirect costs of research projects like laboratory space, equipment, and facility services at 15 percent. This arbitrary limit on indirect costs would slash millions of dollars for groundbreaking scientific research across the country, jeopardizing national security, the economy, and public health.

With this lawsuit, Attorney General Weiser and the coalition are seeking a court order blocking the implementation of NSF’s new directives to eliminate programs addressing diversity in STEM and cut vital funding for research across the country.

“Once again, I am suing to stop the Trump administration from arbitrarily and illegally attempting to cut congressionally approved funding, including for our state universities and colleges,” said Attorney General Weiser. “This time, the administration is targeting investments in our ability to compete in the global economy, harming future job creation and putting our long-term health and safety at risk. I will continue to step up to defend our state whenever illegal federal action threatens Coloradans.”

Locally, many Colorado institutions of higher education rely on funding from NSF to conduct critical research that plays a key role in the U.S. competing scientifically:

  • Colorado State University relies on funding from NSF to develop solutions to energy harvesting, research to increase U.S. production of semiconductor fabrication, critical advancements in the fight against cancer and other diseases, and developing more sustainable crop varieties to boost farmers and our food supply.
  • CU Boulder’s NSF funding supports workforce development programs that promote diversity in STEM, projects designed to better protect marginalized communities from environmental inequality, better prepare students for communicating with artificial intelligence, reduce racial prejudice in genetic sciences, and broaden participation in advanced mathematical research, among others.
  • CU Denver’s NSF funding supports programs to boost workforce development in cybersecurity and projects to strengthen the security of the U.S. electric grid.
  • The University of Northern Colorado’s NSF funding supports promoting diversity in the geospatial sciences.

Attorney General Weiser and the coalition also assert in the lawsuit that NSF’s directive to cap indirect costs at 15 percent would devastate scientific research at universities throughout the country. NSF’s new cap would mean cutting essential research and infrastructure, abandoning critical projects, laying off staff, and ending research essential to national security, public health, and economic stability. The indirect cost cuts put at risk a new academic and research facility at CU Boulder that will host modern laboratories for chemistry, applied mathematics, and specialized quantum research.

Attorney General Weiser and the coalition argue that NSF’s directives violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution by unlawfully changing NSF policy and ignoring Congress’s intent for how NSF should function. The lawsuit seeks a court order ruling NSF’s new policies are illegal and blocking them from being implemented.

Joining Attorney General Weiser in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Read the lawsuit against the NSF (PDF).

For more on Attorney General Weiser’s efforts to defend Colorado from illegal federal actions, visit coag.gov/defending-colorado.

###

Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office
lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov