Academic Groups Denied Early Relief Over Science Agency Grants

The American Association of Physics Teachers Inc. and other groups failed to secure early relief in their suit challenging the National Science Foundation’s termination of about 1,600 grants worth more than $1 billion.

The plaintiffs didn’t show that a federal district court in Washington—as opposed to the US Court of Federal Claims—is likely to have jurisdiction over retrospective Administrative Procedure Act claims challenging a funding loss from the termination, Judge Jia M. Cobb said in a Wednesday opinion, denying the plaintiffs’ bid for a preliminary injunction.

And the groups failed to show irreparable harm from their prospective APA claims or ...