A Colorado federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, freezing a plan that had threatened one of the country’s leading climate and weather research institutions. The preliminary injunction puts the shutdown and relocation effort on hold for now.
The ruling landed the same day President Trump was described in a court order as having called Colorado Gov. Jared Polis “weak and pathetic” over his refusal to release Tina Peters. That detail gave the case its political edge and explained why the judge treated the administration’s move as something more than an administrative reset.
NCAR is federally funded and sponsored by the National Science Foundation, and it plays a major role in predicting and responding to severe weather. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR’s research facilities, sued to stop the administration from transferring the center’s Wyoming Supercomputing Center to a new operator and said it had “sole responsibility and authority for operating the NWSC.”
The clash began in December, when the Trump administration announced plans to shut the center down and relocate certain functions. Russ Vought carried that message to social media, calling NCAR “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” By March, more than 80 lawmakers from both parties had filed public comments opposing the dismantling.
The judge saw no legal or factual basis for the move. On Monday, the Colorado U.S. District Judge said there was no justification for moving the center or shutting it down, and agreed with UCAR’s claim that the dismantling was intended as direct political revenge. The injunction noted that a January Dear Colleague Letter never cited any deficiencies or concerns in UCAR’s operation of the center, even as the National Science Foundation admitted it had not “duly considered” the responses it solicited about NCAR’s future.
The court order tied the dispute to a broader fight between Colorado and the White House, citing the president’s “weak and pathetic” remark and a series of administration actions that included terminating millions of dollars in transportation funding, threatening millions more in energy funding, directing Colorado to participate in an unlawful SNAP pilot project and denying two requests for natural-disaster relief. Jared Polis had commuted Tina Peters’ 9-year state prison term on June 1, and the order made clear that the NCAR fight did not happen in a vacuum.
Michael Bennet said the work done at NCAR benefits all Americans, “forming the backbone of weather forecasting, disaster preparedness, water planning, wildfire prevention, and aviation safety,” and called the injunction “a critical step in the right direction for science, the hundreds of public servants at NCAR, public safety, and Colorado.” Polis said he was pleased the court recognized the serious harm the transfer would cause. For now, the center stays open and the administration’s dismantling plan is frozen; the next question is whether the White House tries to appeal or finds another way to push the same fight forward.
