Judge Weighs Halting Trump Effort to Withdraw ABA Aid Grants (1)

Lawyers for the American Bar Association are asking a DC federal judge to freeze the Justice Department moves to cut off the group’s access to grants that provide legal resources for domestic violence victims.

The ABA sued the Justice Department over $3.2 million worth of terminated grants on April 23, saying the withdrawal is an effort to “retaliate against the ABA for taking positions the current administration disfavors.”

The retaliation is clear, Christine Coogle, an attorney for the American Bar Association argued Monday in DC federal court in a hearing over the request for preliminary injunction.

The $3.2 million in grants is comprised of five active grants for training civil attorneys representing victims of gender-based violence. DOJ terminated the grants one day after the department said it would limit its attorneys’ participation in ABA events.

Judge Christopher Cooper pressed a Justice attorney, Douglas Drier, over the Department’s reasoning that the terminated grants no longer align with its priorities. “I don’t have the authority to go beyond what’s in the record here,” Drier replied.

“Today, the Department of Justice told the district court the government retaliated against the ABA, yet insisted the court can’t do anything about it,” Brian Netter, legal director at Democracy Forward Foundation, said in a statement. “We came to court to oppose the Trump administration’s harmful actions to rip away resources to sexual assault and domestic violence victims. We look forward to the court’s decision.”

The ABA is under fire from the Trump administration over diversity initiatives and a general left-leaning slant. The ABA has publicly denounced the administration’s punitive actions against law firms and threats against federal judges. The group also laid off more than 300 employees after the Trump administration slashed $69 million of its grant funding through USAID.

The council that accredits law schools within the American Bar Association voted to extend its suspension of a rule that required law schools to make efforts to diversify their staff and student populations in a May 9 meeting.

Attorney General Pam Bondi in February threatened the ABA’s law school accreditation powers over the accrediting body’s diversity mandate for law schools. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche this month sent a memobarred DOJ employees from participating in the professional organization’s events in their official capacities or on official time.

Blanche and Bondi are also named as defendants in the complaint. Democracy Forward is representing the ABA.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ABA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is American Bar Association v. US Department of Justice, D.D.C., 1:25-cv 01263, 5/12/25