Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration's new transit and
homelessness grant conditions
[May 08, 2025]
By GENE JOHNSON
SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the
Trump administration from imposing new conditions on hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of mass transit grants for the Seattle area or
homelessness services grants for Boston, New York, San Francisco and
other local governments.
The new conditions were designed to further President Donald Trump's
efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies; coerce
local officials into assisting with the administration's mass
deportation efforts; and cut off information about lawful abortions,
according to the lawsuit filed last week by eight cities and counties.
The administration argued that Senior U.S. District Judge Barbara
Rothstein in Seattle did not have jurisdiction over the lawsuit because
it was essentially a contract dispute that should have been brought in
the Court of Federal Claims — an argument the judge rejected.
Rothstein wrote that the local governments had shown they were likely to
win the case, because the conditions being imposed on the grants had not
been approved by Congress, were not closely related to the purposes of
the grants and would not make the administration of the grants more
efficient.
“Defendants have put Plaintiffs in the position of having to choose
between accepting conditions that they believe are unconstitutional, and
risking the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant
funding, including funding that they have already budgeted and are
committed to spending,” Rothstein wrote.
Her order blocks U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Federal
Transportation Administration for 14 days from enforcing the new grant
conditions or withholding or delaying funding awarded under the grants.
The local jurisdictions said they would seek a longer-term block in the
meantime.
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Southbound passengers wait as they look across at a northbound Sound
Transit light rail train at an underground station in downtown
Seattle, Nov. 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to an email
seeking comment.
King County, which includes Seattle, sued over changes to grant
conditions for homelessness services as well as mass transit funding
that helps pay for maintenance of the region's light rail system.
Boston and New York, Pierce and Snohomish Counties in Washington,
the city and county of San Francisco, and Santa Clara County in
California all sued over the changes to homelessness services
grants.
“Today’s ruling is a positive first step in our challenge to federal
overreach," King County Executive Shannon Braddock said in a
statement. "We will continue to stand up against unlawful actions to
protect our residents and the services they rely on.”
The conditions highlighted in the plaintiff's restraining order
motion included barring grant recipients from using the funding in a
way that promotes “illegal immigration or abets policies that seek
to shield illegal aliens from deportation.” Another condition bars
them from using the funding to “promote elective abortions.”
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AP reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
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