Public Rights Project urges court to protect $820 million in public safety funding

Press Release from Public Rights Project

For Immediate Release: June 6, 2025

Media Contact: Grace Kair, gracek@chatham-strategies.com

OAKLAND, CA — With a nationwide coalition of 25 jurisdictions, Public Rights Project took action to protect public safety funding, challenging the Trump administration’s abrupt termination of over $820 million in grants.

Public Rights Project filed an amicus brief in the federal class action lawsuit, Vera Institute of Justice v. U.S. Department of Justice. The plaintiffs are asking the court to stop the government from ending more than 370 grants that fund critical public safety efforts in communities in 19 states.

Relying on the experiences of local governments, city and county officials, and prosecuting attorneys, Public Rights Project’s brief argues how jurisdictions across the country have already been (or will be) harmed by the loss of this essential funding. It explains the importance of keeping this funding and how the local impact of these cuts will have widespread nationwide effects unless the courts step in. 

“The Trump administration’s actions are jeopardizing public safety for over 138 million people,” said Jon Miller, chief program officer at Public Rights Project. “We should all care about keeping communities safe, and that’s why we’re standing up with our partners against this unlawful abuse of power. Public Rights Project is proud to defend these vital federal dollars alongside leaders, government attorneys and local jurisdictions.”

Without this funding, critical services such as community safety and violence intervention, effective law enforcement and prosecution, victim support services and public safety research are at risk of being reduced or gutted altogether.

In Baltimore, for example, a gun prevention program funded through these grants successfully reduced homicides and non-fatal shootings from 23% to 16 % in some of the city’s most under-resourced neighborhoods. In Leander, Texas, a community-based program focused on reducing recidivism among youth resulted in recidivism rates dropping from 75% to 15%.

The local governments that joined the brief include Baltimore, Md., Chicago, Ill., Harris County, Texas, King County, Wash., Minneapolis, Minn., Montgomery County, Md., Newark, N.J., New York, N.Y., Sacramento, Calif. and Santa Monica, Calif. Sixteen local government leaders, including mayors, prosecutors and attorneys from across 12 states, also signed on to the brief.

The lawsuit was filed in May by Democracy Forward on behalf of Vera Institute of Justice and argues that the immediate terminations violate both the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act. The other plaintiffs are Center for Children & Youth Justice, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Force Detroit and Health Resources in Action.

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About Public Rights Project
As a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, Public Rights Project helps local government officials fight for civil rights. We do this by building their capacity to protect and advance civil rights, convening and connecting them on issues of civil rights, and providing legal representation to governments to help them win in court on behalf of their residents. Since our founding, we’ve built a network of over 1,300 partners, including elected officials and 227 government offices across all 50 states, and helped recover over $46 million in relief for marginalized people. www.publicrightsproject.org