In a major victory for the Trump Administration, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has denied a preliminary injunction that would have counteracted the Justice Department’s move to block hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants, although Judge Mehta described the DOJ as “shameful” in his ruling.
For background, in May 2025, five organizations sued the Department of Justice after they had federal grants terminated by the DOJ, arguing that the cancellations went against the Constitution. In response, District Judge Amit Mehta criticized the DOJ for terminating the grants, but he determined on July 8, 2025, that the court did not have the jurisdiction to carry the lawsuit forward.
In his ruling, Judge Mehta said that the Justice Department’s rescinding of the grants was “shameful,” adding, “It is likely to harm communities and individuals vulnerable to crime and violence.” However, the judge clarified, “But displeasure and sympathy are not enough in a court of law.”
Moreover, in its lawsuit against the Justice Department, the five organizations, which included the Vera Institute of Justice, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Force Detroit, and several others, said that the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs “abruptly and summarily terminated more than 370 multi-year cooperative agreements and grants awarding more than $820 million in essential funding.”
Continuing, the organizations accused the DOJ of rescinding grants that address “violence reduction and intervention, policing and prosecution, victims’ services, juvenile justice and child protection, substance use and mental health treatment,” and several other social issues. The plaintiffs made the case that their organizations have experienced “an abrupt discontinuation of vital services to some of the most vulnerable in our communities, making individuals and the communities in which they live less safe.”
After the lawsuit was filed, the DOJ reportedly asked Judge Mehta to dismiss it, filing a statement that argued that there was ““no legal basis for the Court to order DOJ to restore lawfully terminated grants and keep paying for programs that the Executive Branch views as inconsistent with the interests of the United States.”
In addition, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin fiercely criticized the DOJ for its decision to rescind the grants in a press briefing, saying, “To say, ‘We’re going to cut programs that protect people from bias, that help people with opioid addiction, that keep guns off our streets’ — it’s irresponsible, it’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it’s going to get people killed,.”
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Moreover, Nancy Smith of Activating Change, an organization affected by the rescinding of the grants that works with disabled individuals, called the decision “a catastrophic blow,” adding that the loss of funding also removed “the safety net for people with disabilities and deaf people who’ve experienced violent crime in our country.”
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