Attorney General Brown Wins Ruling Protecting Billions in Critical Federal Funding

​

 Judge Rules Trump Administration Cannot Subvert Will of Congress Through Obscure Regulation ​

BALTIMORE, MD  – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that a coalition of 24 states won a key ruling declaring that the Trump administration cannot terminate previously issued grants for crucial state programs and services based solely on a post-hoc change in agency priorities. ​

In her decision, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in the District of Massachusetts wrote that five words in U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations – referencing situations where a grant “no longer effectuates … agency priorities” – do not give federal agencies effectively unfettered authority to revoke grants just because the federal administration claims it is shifting its focus.  

“This ruling protects billions of dollars in already awarded federal grants from being cancelled without warning or clear justification,” said Attorney General Brown. “My Office will always hold the federal government accountable when it tries to revoke what was already promised merely because its priorities shifted.”

Without providing any lawful justification and without any advance warning or explanation, the Trump administration has relied on this regulation to gut funding across the entire federal government. Attorney General Brown and a multistate coalition sued to stop the unprecedented attack. Prior to the second Trump administration, federal agencies never terminated grants merely because the agency’s priorities shifted midway through the grant period.    

The multistate complaint, filed last year, argued that the Trump administration’s decision to invoke the regulation to terminate grants based on their changed agency priorities is unlawful. The lawsuit explained that the regulation does not authorize federal agencies to terminate grants based on changes in agency preferences that occur after a grant is awarded. The lawsuit also noted the importance of obtaining clarity regarding the scope of this regulation, as states collectively accept hundreds of billions of dollars a year that are at risk of termination pursuant to this regulation. 

Judge Talwani granted the states a declaratory judgment that the regulations do not authorize the Trump administration to terminate funding that has already been awarded based on a subsequent change in an agency’s priorities.  

Nationwide, the indiscriminate cuts have caused programmatic chaos and uncertainty for grantees, including those working to combat violent crime, conduct lifesaving medical and scientific research, educate students, protect clean drinking water, safeguard public health, address food insecurity, and much more. 

Joining Attorney General Brown in the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. 

###​​