Trump admin ignoring court order to fund AmeriCorps and lying about compliance with preliminary injunction

Source: Law & Crime

Aug 19th, 2025, 1:44 pm


A coalition of AmeriCorps volunteer service groups across the country is looking to push a litigation advantage and expand a lawsuit aimed at recouping federal funding for the civil service program. In July, the coalition won a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from firing key staffers and defunding the groups to the tune of $400 million pre-approved and outlaid by Congress.

Since then, however, the federal government has continued its "attacks" on AmeriCorps, has refused to release the funds, and still appears intent on shuttering the agency, the plaintiffs say. Now, in an 80-page amended class complaint, the groups are raising additional claims, adding plaintiffs, and tacking on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a named defendant.

"Defendants have begun new efforts to obstruct AmeriCorps' work, now focused on the mass withholding of funds already appropriated to AmeriCorps," the new iteration of the lawsuit reads. "Defendants have unlawfully refused to apportion and release appropriations that would otherwise flow to more than two hundred grantees and subgrantees across the country."

In the July injunction, U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox, a Joe Biden appointee, ordered the named defendants — including AmeriCorps itself — to comply "with all statutes and appropriations that require AmeriCorps to carry out programs and award grants." The order notably included "shall" language, the plaintiffs point out, which is often considered a sine qua non in legal documents. The groups allege such statutes and appropriations are being ignored.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/once-again-put-a-stop-to-it-trump-admin-ignoring-court-order-to-fund-americorps-and-lying-about-compliance-with-preliminary-injunction-amended-lawsuit-claims/