Coalition Challenges Undemocratic Attack on the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
November 10, 2026 - Boston – A coalition of scientific societies and individual scientists has united to challenge the 
unlawful closure of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). In a complaint filed on Monday in federal court in Boston, the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS), Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS), and two Massachusetts researchers are asking the court to stop the unlawful closure of SBE. The coalition is represented by Democracy Forward in the matter.
SBE is responsible for roughly two-thirds of all federally funded basic academic research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences in the United States, including cutting-edge research in psychology, neuroscience, sociology, linguistics, economics, and statistics. This research advances our understanding of human behavior and society, with far-reaching implications for education, health and well-being, economic prosperity, national security, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). SBE-supported research has helped shape Google’s search technologies, improve the reliability of eyewitness identification, enhance human relationships, develop life-saving organ-donor matching systems, increase Americans’ retirement savings, and lay the foundations for modern AI, among other impacts.
The directorate came under threat in April 2026 as part of the Trump-Vance administration’s ongoing effort to politicize funding for the sciences, when NSF announced it would close the Directorate by the end of the year. NSF made its decision without consulting the National Science Board, all members of which President Trump summarily fired three weeks later.
“The administration’s proposal to eliminate SBE is a disservice to the American public and a crushing blow to the behavioral and brain sciences,” said Juliane Baron, Executive Director of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS). “When I think about the biggest challenges facing people across our country – advancing health and well-being, providing economic and physical security for our loved ones – these are all inherently human questions. We can’t solve pressing societal challenges without understanding humans.”
“We cannot allow this administration to shoot America in the foot,” said Jon Freeman, FABBS Board Member and Professor of Psychology at Columbia University. “American behavioral science has transformed everything from the algorithms powering our technology to how we strengthen human connection, overcome social divisions, improve public health, and make better decisions in our everyday lives. Dismantling SBE would devastate a vital part of our scientific workforce at precisely the moment we need it most, as AI reshapes society. It’s scientific self-sabotage, and the American public will ultimately pay the price in the discoveries never made and lives never changed for the better.”
“Scientific discoveries do not happen on command, and we cannot always predict which lines of research will produce the breakthroughs that transform our lives,” said Steven J. Stroessner, Executive Officer, Society of Experimental Social Psychology. “For decades, federal support for basic research in social psychology has helped us understand how people think, make decisions, and relate to one another. The resulting discoveries have strengthened our nation by improving education, informing public policy, fostering cooperation, and helping us address some of society’s most persistent challenges. Dismantling that support threatens not only the research being conducted today, but the discoveries we have yet to imagine.”
“Understanding how the brain shapes trust, cooperation, emotion, and social behavior is essential to addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges, from social isolation and polarization to the rapid emergence of AI,” said Jennifer Kubota, President, Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS). “Eliminating NSF SBE funding for this research threatens decades of scientific progress and the next generation of scientists. Research opportunities lost today cannot simply be recovered tomorrow. We risk losing not only critical discoveries, but also the talented researchers who will make them.”
Under NSF’s governing statute, the 25-member National Science Board sets policies for the agency. While NSF’s director manages the foundation’s operations and day-to-day grantmaking, the director must seek the board’s approval for major changes to NSF’s policies, structure, or investments, and the director may only eliminate or add an NSF division “in consultation with the Board.” In this case, however, NSF’s leadership not only failed to consult the board about closing the SBE; it completely shut out the board while it made a series of major decisions to overhaul the foundation, only for the president to fire the whole board last April.
Supporting behavioral and social science research is also not optional for NSF—it is part of the agency’s mandate from Congress. The National Science Foundation Act of 1950, enacted in the aftermath of World War II to ensure that the United States remained a global leader in scientific discovery and technological innovation, directs NSF to support basic research in the social sciences alongside the physical and biological sciences. In subsequent legislation, Congress specifically required certain research to be supported “through the Directorate of Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences.” The lawsuit argues that NSF cannot simply disregard these statutory obligations.
“The administration’s dismantling of SBE is not only reckless; it is illegal,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “NSF provided no public explanation for its decision to close the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate, and this dangerous dismissal of scientific expertise is a threat to crucial scientific research. We are honored to work with this coalition to challenge the administration’s crusade against science and the unlawful closure of the directorate.”
The case is Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences et al. v. National Science Foundation et. al., and the legal team at Democracy Forward working on the matter includes Sean Ouellette, Ram Sridharan, Lesley Farby, and Robin Thurston.
Read the complaint here.
Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
Source: Democracy Forward Foundation
