Hello everyone, Update on King County case, as of August 12, 2025, (see attached)— The case — initially filed in May by local governments including King County, Washington; San Francisco; Boston and New York City — has now grown to include some 60 jurisdictions. Together, they argued that the U.S. Departments of HUD, Transportation and Health and Human Services have imposed improper conditions on billions of dollars of grants. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein had already granted the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, which paused the government’s imposition of the new conditions. However, after more plaintiffs joined the suit, they argued that federal authorities continued to impose the same improper conditions and sought to widen their scope. “Congress, as the branch of government constitutionally entrusted with the power of the purse, has long made critical investments in programs to end homelessness, strengthen communities, and improve local infrastructure,” the judge said in yesterday’s ruling granting another preliminary injunction. “And under the Constitution, it is Congress — not the president — that has the authority to make those judgments.” Called unlawful by the plaintiffs, funding restrictions included using grant funds to promote “gender ideology,” to fund or promote elective abortions, to promote “illegal immigration” or to enable policies that shield noncitizen residents from deportation. The grants run the gamut, including dollars for people facing homelessness. That money ensures governments can provide programs for affordable housing, community development and homelessness assistance services. Other threatened funding included money for tuberculosis prevention, along with public health preparedness and response. Like other federal agencies, the health and human services department began attaching conditions to its grants. The department required grant awardees to prohibit any funds going toward DEI programs. The plaintiffs argued the conditions applied to the grant money violated the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine and went beyond the authority held by Congress. As she did in an earlier order, Rothstein agreed. The judge also found that a federal agency has no authority to condition grants on prohibiting DEI, gender ideology or elective abortion. “At most, the defendants rely on reference to the Trump administration’s executive orders to justify the imposition of the challenged funding conditions, but as this court previously stated ‘rote incorporation of executive orders — especially ones involving politically charged policy matters that are the subject of intense disagreement and bear no substantive relations to the agency’s underlying action — does not constitute ‘reasoned decision-making,’” the judge said. Thank you, Deanna Shahnami [logo]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__imla.org_&d=DwMGaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=nIGEovRo_H4MoA0s8lF2YZ30Z9FvFJNoVAV7tSgWGTs&m=eynONViXLcfcYKxfzuY-I1UwWZhV4a7HFqslKZRU903cwqnii4Z-duPC9pgZVNjl&s=CKWQjgQD4OhJCcsR7Xmfr21mA6qXhtMPdcL030OI9ho&e=> [facebook icon]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.facebook.com_InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation_&d=DwMGaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=nIGEovRo_H4MoA0s8lF2YZ30Z9FvFJNoVAV7tSgWGTs&m=eynONViXLcfcYKxfzuY-I1UwWZhV4a7HFqslKZRU903cwqnii4Z-duPC9pgZVNjl&s=NSvtCEdU4eD9bnjIImzI6Dt7ewOiwbL-JMnYvtR7_64&e=>[twitter icon]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_imlalegal&d=DwMGaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=nIGEovRo_H4MoA0s8lF2YZ30Z9FvFJNoVAV7tSgWGTs&m=eynONViXLcfcYKxfzuY-I1UwWZhV4a7HFqslKZRU903cwqnii4Z-duPC9pgZVNjl&s=iKM3vVILLFndoeRE3r-BDw37EwjZ9HIptTfTTzM-ugM&e=>[linkedin icon]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.linkedin.com_company_international-2Dmunicipal-2Dlawyers-2Dassociation-2Dinc._&d=DwMGaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=nIGEovRo_H4MoA0s8lF2YZ30Z9FvFJNoVAV7tSgWGTs&m=eynONViXLcfcYKxfzuY-I1UwWZhV4a7HFqslKZRU903cwqnii4Z-duPC9pgZVNjl&s=xZuBCfSMChmH_5tE7ASqe8niFvzVL4bDGy6wpYpKmgk&e=> Deanna Shahnami (she/her) Assistant General Counsel, Director of DEI International Municipal Lawyers Association P: (202) 466-5424 x7105 D: (202) 742-1019 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 Plan Ahead! See IMLA’s upcoming events<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__imla.org_events_&d=DwMGaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=nIGEovRo_H4MoA0s8lF2YZ30Z9FvFJNoVAV7tSgWGTs&m=eynONViXLcfcYKxfzuY-I1UwWZhV4a7HFqslKZRU903cwqnii4Z-duPC9pgZVNjl&s=GnfvwTUozLbwDVoOVXxHCYG7RP_OsIzD41YbS6myJUM&e=>, calls and programming.