A new lawsuit in federal court alleges that the Trump administration violated the law by secretly recruiting a group of people who reject the scientific consensus on climate change to write a report downplaying global warming.

The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists, both environmental groups, accused the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency of “flagrant violations” of a law that governs advisory committees.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Tuesday. It alleges that in March Chris Wright, the energy secretary, “quietly arranged for five handpicked skeptics of the effects of climate change” to form a committee called the Climate Working Group that then wrote a report downplaying the threat of rising greenhouse gas emissions. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, cited the report to justify a plan to repeal the legal foundation for regulating climate pollution.

But the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 does not allow federal agencies to recruit or rely on secret groups when engaging in policymaking, according to the lawsuit. The law requires that any groups developed to advise federal policy must be disclosed and that meetings, emails and other records be made public.

“This is one of the most brazen violations of federal law on one of the single most consequential issues to the lives of millions of Americans,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund.

The lawsuit alleges that the agencies “have sought to manufacture a basis to reject” widespread scientific agreement that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary contributor to global warming, and that swift action is needed to avoid the worst consequences.