Judge Strikes Down Termination of Federal Grand Funding for Law Enforcement, Meal Assistance, and Education

(KNSI) – A coalition of 24 states, including Minnesota, has won a federal court ruling in its challenge to the Trump Administration’s termination of federal grant funding.

A federal judge ruled late Friday that the administration cannot use a federal regulation to cancel congressionally funded grants based on policy priorities the government identified only after the money was awarded.

The states filed suit in June 2025, arguing the administration relied on an Office of Management and Budget regulation to terminate grants after its priorities shifted, and that the regulation does not authorize those cancellations. According to the complaint, federal agencies before the second Trump Administration did not end grants simply because an agency’s priorities changed partway through a grant period.

Judge Indira Talwani granted the states a declaratory judgment, agreeing that the OMB regulation and related agency rules do not, on their own, authorize the administration to end funding based on priorities set after a grant was awarded.

According to Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office, since January 2025, the administration has terminated tens of millions of dollars in federal grants to Minnesota. One grant, cut in April 2025, had provided funding for programs that train teachers and school administrators on violence prevention. That money was authorized by Congress through the STOP School Violence Act of 2018.

Ellison says the cuts nationwide have created uncertainty for grant recipients, including those working on violent crime, medical and scientific research, education, clean drinking water, public health and food insecurity.

The case was led by the attorneys general of New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York. Along with Minnesota, the coalition included the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

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