Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced that he is leading a coalition of 21 Attorneys General and the state of Pennsylvania in suing the Trump Administration over its unprecedented and unlawful attempts to invoke a single provision buried in the federal regulations to strip away billions of dollars in critical federal funding for states and other grantees. The lawsuit seeks to limit the Trump Administration’s use of this regulation to indiscriminately and illegally terminate critical funding for combating violent crime, educating our students, protecting clean drinking water, conducting lifesaving medical and scientific research, safeguarding public health, addressing food insecurity, and much more.
“The Trump Administration and DOGE have mounted an unprecedented campaign to terminate billions of dollars of federal funding to states that supports critical programs for our residents. That reckless slash-and-burn campaign has rested on the flimsiest of legal justifications. And it has continued unabated for months—which is why we’re taking the fight to the Trump Administration to stop these reckless and illegal cuts from continuing,” said Attorney General Platkin. “We’re proud to lead this lawsuit to prevent the Trump Administration from deciding on a whim and without any notice that it no longer wishes to provide states with the funding Congress has promised. It is unconscionable that this Administration has illegally stripped our state of funding Congress authorized to protect public safety, to support lifesaving medical research, to ensure that our kids can access clean water and air, and so much more. We won’t let that continue to happen. We’ll see the Trump Administration in court.”
Since January 20, at the direction of President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), federal agencies have stripped away thousands of grants they had previously awarded to states and grantees. The Trump Administration has slashed this critical federal funding by invoking a single clause in the federal regulations of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which provides that agencies may terminate an award of federal funding if it “no longer effectuates … agency priorities.” Those five words have formed the basis for much of the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate campaign to unlawfully terminate critical funding expressly authorized by Congress and awarded to states.
In New Jersey, since January 20, the Trump Administration has terminated millions of dollars of federal funding for a wide variety of critical programs.
Among other things, the Trump Administration has invoked the five words in this regulation to terminate public safety funding that would support violence intervention initiatives and equip law enforcement agencies with updated technology, including automated license plate readers, to help fight violent crime and bias crimes. It has terminated funding that supports lifesaving medical breakthroughs and groundbreaking scientific research. It has eviscerated programs that combat food insecurity in schools. It has stripped funding away from efforts to ensure that everyone has access to safe, clean drinking water free from dangerous chemicals. It has undermined New Jersey’s efforts to modernize its unemployment system and make it easier for New Jerseyans to access unemployment benefits when they lose their jobs and for the State to combat fraud. And it has slashed funding for the state’s efforts to expand Internet access in underserved communities.
As today’s lawsuit explains, the Trump Administration’s decision to invoke this regulation as its basis for slashing billions of dollars of critical funding to states is a dramatic departure from past practice. Before the Trump Administration, federal agencies had not terminated grants merely because the agency’s priorities shifted midway during the use of the grant without any advance notice. That was not how they applied the regulation, either.
However, since President Trump took office, federal agencies have shifted course and claimed unfettered authority to terminate grants on a whim and with no advance notice. In February, President Trump issued an executive order formally directing agencies—and the DOGE employees assigned to these agencies—to terminate grants en masse. And federal agencies have carried out that directive by invoking the regulation as grounds for terminating entire programs based on a purported shift in agency priorities, without any notice to the states and in conflict with the federal statutes appropriating funding for these programs.
The lawsuit argues that the Trump Administration’s decision to invoke the regulation to terminate grants based on their changed agency priorities is unlawful. The lawsuit explains 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 notes 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.
The coalition is filing today’s lawsuit against OMB and a number of federal agencies that have unlawfully relied on this regulation to collectively slash billions of dollars in federal funding to states: the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Labor, and State, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Endowment for the Humanities, and National Science Foundation.
The coalition is filing suit in the District of Massachusetts and seeking a declaratory judgment that the OMB regulation and Defendants’ regulations do not independently authorize the Trump Administration to terminate funding based on agency priorities that were identified after the grant was awarded. In the alternative, the coalition is seeking to vacate the Trump Administration’s decision—reflected in its uniform practice across all of the Defendant agencies—to invoke the regulation as grounds for terminating billions of dollars of federal funding based on purported changes in agency priorities.
In New Jersey, this matter is being handled by Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum, Chief Counsel Sundeep Iyer, Deputy Solicitor General Stephen Ehrlich, Deputy Director of the Division of Law Sara Gregory, Deputy Attorneys General Jessica Palmer, Amanda I. Morejón, Meghan K. Musso, Sarah Nealon, and Lauren E. Van Driesen, and Law Clerk Andrea Cavazos.
Joining Attorney General Platkin in filing this lawsuit are the Attorneys General of Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the state of Pennsylvania.
