Fresno has won its first battle against the Trump administration to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding.
The city won a preliminary injunction in the case filed against the Trump administration over executive orders President Trump signed regarding the removal of all diversity, equity and inclusion language.
The backstory: Fresno filed the lawsuit last month alongside Sacramento, Eureka and South Lake Tahoe, among other cities, to halt the enforcement of some executive orders that impacted the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
- The city said at the time that well over $250 million in federal grant funding was at risk of being withheld or rescinded from the Trump administration, impacting programs that support affordable housing, public safety, transportation, the city’s new senior center, airport infrastructure and highways.
- HUD specifically took issue with the DRIVE Initiative, which was organized by the Central Valley Community Foundation (CVCF). Former Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin serves as the nonprofit’s President and CEO. HUD ordered Fresno to remove references to the words “equity” and “environmental justice,” as well as all transgender references.
- Fresno argued in the lawsuit that Congress, not the Executive Branch, has the power to appropriate federal funds, making President Trump’s directives unconstitutional.
The big picture: Chief District Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration.
- Seeborg’s order came Tuesday evening, shortly after a hearing was held in the lawsuit.
- Seeborg ruled that the requirements the Trump administration placed on certain grant funding to Fresno and other cities are illegal and unconstitutional.
- The city has already spent some of the grant money it received from the various federal agencies. The money includes grant funding that is going toward the ongoing expansion project at Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
What they’re saying: City Attorney Andrew Janz held a press conference at City Hall Wednesday morning alongside City Councilmembers Mike Karbassi and Nick Richardson. Janz said the city filed the lawsuit as a last resort.
- “We tried to negotiate with the federal government, but we were really put in an impossible situation where we had to choose between declining federal funds – over $200 million worth of funds – or having our city staff and our city attorneys sign off on unconstitutional and illegal terms that would’ve placed them potentially in harm’s way in terms of civil and criminal liability,” Janz said
- “Nothing about this decision from the council’s standpoint was political,” Richardson added. “It doesn’t have anything to do with politics.”
- Karbassi agreed with Janz in that the city was put in an impossible position.
- “Either we comply with the orders, that probably were unconstitutional, and put our staff in serious legal jeopardy, which we can’t do as employers, or we decide to send the money back, which is completely irresponsible because we qualified for every single dollar that we received,” Karbassi said. “Or we go down the route of litigation, which was not an easy decision. It was not personal. It was simply about making sure that we [can] be able to receive the dollars that Congress appropriated to communities like Fresno.”
What we’re watching: The Trump administration has 30 days to file an appeal.
