Santa Clara County v. Noem

Twenty-nine local governments filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s attempts to put unlawful conditions on grants administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The lawsuit argues that the administration is attempting to impose its policy preferences on immigration enforcement and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives by holding hostage funds that Congress allocated for anti-terrorism, disaster preparedness, and other critical emergency support for local governments.

Santa Clara County and the City and County of San Francisco are the lead plaintiffs. Public Rights Project is representing the additional plaintiffs.

The lawsuit argues that the administration’s attempts to impose funding conditions on congressionally approved grants violates the separation of powers principle. It also points to other constitutional violations as well as defiance of the Administrative Procedure Act.

These funding restrictions give the plaintiffs an impossible and urgent choice — agree to unlawful policy conditions that don’t serve their communities’ needs or forfeit millions of dollars in critical emergency management funding. With so much uncertainty surrounding these grants, local governments may be forced to reconsider staffing levels and reduce emergency response capacity.

The unlawful conditions will exacerbate, rather than alleviate, the suffering and damage caused by wildfires, floods, terrorism, earthquakes, and other disasters. Some of the at-risk grants fund essential fire department equipment and public education programs, protection of port infrastructure from terrorism, and development of hazard mitigation plans.

Update:

On Oct. 1, 2025, the coalition filed a request for a preliminary injunction to stop DHS and FEMA from imposing and enforcing unlawful grant conditions while the case proceeds. We are asking the judge to find that the coalition has shown a likelihood of success by proving that the Trump administration wrongly imposed these grant conditions.

Read the motion.

On Nov. 21, a district court judge granted a preliminary injunction, blocking DHS and FEMA from imposing and enforcing unlawful grant conditions on emergency management funding while the case moves forward. As a result, the plaintiffs are entitled to receive their grant funding during the litigation without agreeing to the challenged conditions.

Read the decision.