Judge Temporarily Blocks Transfer of NCAR Supercomputer

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday that temporarily prevents the Trump administration from pursuing a major part of its effort to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The National Science Foundation’s decision to transfer the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center away from its current operator was likely illegal because the agency offered no reason for its decision and did not follow its own process to seek public feedback before proceeding with the transfer, Judge Richard Brooke Jackson found. “The sequence of events strongly suggests that the outcome was predetermined,” Jackson’s order states.

The order adds that NSF’s decision may have been motivated by the administration’s dispute with the state of Colorado, as opposed to “an analysis of the relevant facts and data,” which Jackson said would demonstrate that NSF acted illegally.

A preliminary injunction only provides temporary relief as a case proceeds. The court still needs to decide whether NSF can ultimately go through with the transfer of the supercomputer and other “retaliatory actions” federal agencies have taken against NCAR and its operator, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. However, the decision indicates that Jackson believes UCAR is reasonably likely to win the case, which could complicate the administration’s broader efforts to break up NCAR.

UCAR, a consortium of universities that has managed NCAR since its inception in 1960, sued NSF on March 16, three months after the White House announced it would “break up” NCAR. Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, posted on X that the administration would move “any vital activities” to other entities or locations.

NSF sought public input in January on transferring stewardship of NCAR’s supercomputing center, transferring two aircraft managed and operated by NCAR, and redefining the scope of NCAR research. NSF has not published the responses it received, but a group of weather and climate scientists has published 56 letters representing hundreds of scientists. Many oppose breaking up NCAR, saying the size of the institution and coordination between its facilities enable its high-quality research. Some specifically oppose the transfer of the NWSC.

Jackson found that UCAR demonstrated it would suffer irreparable harm from NSF’s decision to transfer the NWSC, including from employee attrition and unrecoverable financial losses.

He also noted that the public interest favors a preliminary injunction, adding, “Any degradation in forecasting, modeling, or related scientific capabilities carries real-world consequences, including potential harm to property and human life.”

UCAR interim president Eric Barron said the decision ensures that the supercomputing center “will be able to continue its vital work on behalf of the United States and its stakeholders without interruption.” NSF declined to comment on the decision.

UCAR argued in its lawsuit that NSF made transfer decisions before considering public input. An NSF grants and agreements officer told the UCAR director on Feb. 12 that the agency had decided to transfer the supercomputer, fewer than three weeks after issuing the call for public feedback and more than a month before the March 13 deadline. In the preliminary injunction decision, Jackson pointed to the letter as evidence that NSF failed to follow its own public feedback process before proceeding with the transfer. This also “deprived UCAR of a meaningful opportunity to present its objections” to the decision, Jackson wrote.

The lack of process, along with the agency’s failure to explain its decision, led Jackson to conclude that the decision was likely arbitrary and capricious. “There is no evidence that NSF has ever expressed dissatisfaction with UCAR’s stewardship, identified performance deficiencies, or otherwise articulated concerns regarding UCAR’s management justifying a change of this magnitude,” the decision states. Jackson did not discount that the transfer decision may have been motivated by the Trump administration’s dispute with the state of Colorado, including the president’s demands in December that the state governor release Tina Peters, a former elections clerk in Colorado who was found guilty of tampering with voting machines following the 2020 presidential election, from prison.

Jackson also found that NCAR’s loss of employees due to the transfer decision constituted irreparable harm. UCAR is now understaffed, the order states, having lost eight employees from the Computational Information Systems Lab who work directly with the NWSC’s supercomputing ecosystem and another 16 from other UCAR labs and facilities. “Absent injunctive relief, there is every reason to believe that the flood of resignations will continue,” the order adds. Furthermore, “UCAR cannot easily replace employees with the level of education, specialized training, and institutional knowledge necessary” to operate and maintain the NWSC, and the organization is struggling to attract new talent because of the transfer decision, the order adds.

The transfer decision could also present significant financial threats to UCAR, the decision states, including a drop in credit rating, increased borrowing costs, and inability to fulfill its obligations under contracts tied to its operation of the NWSC, which could lead to lost revenue, significant legal liability, and reputational harm.