Sixteen US states, including New York, California, Illinois and New Jersey, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in New York on the 28th local time, seeking to prevent the Trump administration from slashing federal funding for scientific research and related programs that increase diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). According to reports, the attorneys general of these states said that the Trump administration does not have the power to limit research funding or cancel congressionally mandated diversity programs provided by the National Science Foundation.