Boulder: Universities overseeing the largest federally funded climate research center in the US filed a lawsuit Monday to block the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the lab. The lawsuit challenges plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and accuses the Trump administration of conducting a coordinated campaign targeting Colorado amid tensions between President Donald Trump and Governor Jared Polis.

According to Anadolu Agency, the lawsuit was filed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit consortium of universities that operates the center in Boulder, Colorado. The center is regarded as a leading institute for weather modeling and climate science, which the Trump administration announced plans to dismantle last December.

The lawsuit, filed in a US district court in Colorado, alleges that multiple federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Commerce Department, and the Office of Management and Budget, targeted NCAR as part of a broader campaign of retaliation. Three of the federal agencies named in the UCAR lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while the National Science Foundation stated it does not comment on ongoing litigation, as reported by NBC News.

The complaint outlines that Trump's disputes with Polis stem from issues over Colorado's mail-in voting system and the prosecution of a county clerk convicted of election equipment tampering in the 2020 vote. It further claims that Trump urged Polis to release the clerk and ban mail-in voting.