'Devastating and unlawful': 20 states sue Trump over 'slash-and-burn' policies

24 June

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

President Donald Trump's administration is now being challenged in court by nearly two dozen states after a new lawsuit was announced on Tuesday.

The Arizona Republic reported that the suit is specifically over cuts to federal grants that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) imposed earlier this year. Specifically, the 21 Democratic attorneys general (which include 20 states and Washington D.C.) who joined the suit are challenging the administration's ability to implement the budget cuts under one specific clause inked during Trump's first term.

That language, which is included in the regulations for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), allows for a grant's budget to be axed if it "no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities." DOGE justified the vast bulk of its cuts across various federal agencies by citing that OMB clause.

In the lawsuit, the Democratic attorneys general say that the OMB's regulations are meant to apply narrowly to grants that have been deemed ineffective or not financially feasible — not with a broad brush to any grant on a whim. Additionally, plaintiffs claim that the clause explicitly prohibits the arbitrary termination of grant funding.

"The Trump Administration’s slash-and-burn approach to federal grant funding has left Arizona communities scrambling to pick up the pieces," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) stated. "From infrastructure projects to job training programs to research at our universities, these cuts are devastating and unlawful."

According to the Republic, Mayes is joining the lawsuit to challenge multiple federal grants for Arizona that DOGE eliminated, including $8 million for environmental justice work between the Environmental Protection Agency and the University of Arizona. The Trump administration also terminated three U.S. Department of Labor grants to the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES) in May, which led to the firing of 500 ADES employees.

Plaintiffs are also arguing that the administration's budget cuts violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies abide by regulations. They're asking for the federal judiciary to rule that the Trump administration was wrong to terminate the grant funding and reinstate it, arguing that the money had already been appropriated by Congress.

Click here to read the Arizona Republic's full report.

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