Trump Administration Must Restore AmeriCorps Grants, Members (1)

A coalition of state attorneys general succeeded in their bid to halt the Trump administration from effectively dismantling AmeriCorps, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

AmeriCorps likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it failed to provide notice and solicit public comment “before making significant changes to service delivery,” Judge Deborah L. Boardman of the US District Court for the District of Maryland said in an order partially granting the states’ request for a preliminary injunction. Boardman’s order requires the agency to restore grants terminated on April 25, and blocks the removal from service of members of the National Civilian Community Corps, a nationwide residential program for young adults on short-term volunteer projects.

Maine, Kentucky, New Mexico, 21 other states, and Washington, D.C., sued the agency in April, alleging the termination of $400 million in grants and 85% reduction in the workforce effectively halted AmeriCorps’ ability to operate volunteer service programs. The states collectively operate thousands of AmeriCorps programs related to public health, veterans, and conservation efforts.

The suit is one of several brought by state and local governments over the Trump administration’s sprawling cuts to federal agencies and grants impacting migrant services, research initiatives, efforts to curb homelessness, and other locally-administrated programs.

The states have standing to sue over the decisions to close more than 1,000 AmeriCorps programs and terminate more than 750 members from the NCCC program, since the loss of those resources have and will cause the states to be injured, Boardman wrote in the opinion. The cuts have caused AmeriCorps-funded programs “to cease or significantly curtail operations” as a result, constituting irreparable harm, the judge said.

Congressional appropriations bills include a provision prohibiting AmeriCorps from making significant changes without public notice-and-comment rulemaking, which the administration failed to do here, Boardman said.

“The catalyst for the notice-and-comment requirement was to prevent AmeriCorps from pulling the rug out from under volunteer organizations and the communities they serve—exactly what occurred here,” Boardman wrote.

Boardman declined to restore the employment of AmeriCorps staff, because the states’ alleged injuries from this change are too speculative.

The case is State of Md. v. Corp. for Nat’l & Cmty. Serv., D. Md., No. 1:25-cv-01363, 6/5/25.