On September 14, government institutions throughout the Pacific Northwest joined together in a court filing aimed at challenging the federal government’s attempt to apply anti-DEI, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-abortion directives as requirements for receiving funding appropriated by Congress. The new lawsuit, Port of Seattle, et al. v. Blanche, et al., is a follow-on to Martin Luther King, Jr. County, et al., v. Scott Turner, et al., which to date has protected hundreds of millions of dollars in King County alone.
“The Port of Seattle is fighting the Trump Administration’s effort to undermine the award-winning and effective programs that expand opportunity to everyone in our community,” said Port of Seattle Commission President Ryan Calkins. “This region continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of inclusive public service, with federal funding essential to the Port’s operations — including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which serves nearly 53 million travelers annually. As a catalyst for more than 204,000 jobs, the Port pursues critical federal resources to support safety, security, and efficient operations. We stand with regional partners in opposing measures that unjustly restrict access to essential funding and will continue to assert our legal rights and defend the interests of our communities against arbitrary federal actions.”
“We have recently fought — and won — similar lawsuits to protect hundreds of millions of dollars for King County,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion. “The court has been clear: there is no legal basis for the President to impose anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-abortion directives as a prerequisite to receive congressionally authorized funding. We will fight to protect these critical resources for public safety, environmental protection, and emergency preparedness in King County, and we are confident we will prevail.”
“The Trump administration continues to try to use federal funding as a weapon to force local governments to compromise on their values and adopt its harmful ideologies,” said King County Executive Girmay Zahilay. “Here in King County, we will not be bullied into choosing between the funding our communities rely on and being a welcoming, inclusive place for all people. We will keep standing up to protect our residents and push back against these unlawful attempts to undermine local authority.”
“Snohomish County has joined multiple lawsuits, including Port of Seattle v. Blanche filed September 14, to protect critical services in our community that have been put at risk due to unlawful conditions placed on federal funding,” said Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers. “The Trump administration seeks to use these vital federal taxpayer dollars as a lever to force compliance with controversial executive orders related to immigration status, health care, and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. In this suit, we are challenging untenable conditions on funding that supports an array of public services in our county, including wildfire prevention and response, support for crime victims and witnesses, and work to address environmental and flood mitigation needs along Snohomish County’s shorelines.”
“Federal courts have repeatedly enjoined President Trump’s unlawful attempts to usurp the powers granted to Congress by threatening to withhold federal funding to punish communities that refuse accept his policy agenda,” said Paul Lawrence, who is leading the Pacifica Law Group litigation team representing the plaintiffs. “We are proud to stand alongside this coalition of Washington governments fighting for lawful access to federal resources for their constituents.”
The federal funds at stake in this litigation are resources awarded to local governments by Congress and in which our agencies have met all required conditions, but then the President attempted to revise the terms in order to advance federal directives such as forcing local police agencies to support federal civil immigration. Resources in question include public transportation, public safety, emergency preparedness, environmental protection, flood risk reduction, agricultural assistance, parks and recreation, public health, and housing.
Plaintiffs include the Port of Seattle, Martin Luther King Jr. County, Thurston County, City of Bellingham, Snohomish County, City of Bremerton, and Kitsap County. The case challenges the efforts of the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Homeland Security (DHS), Commerce, Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE), Labor (DOL), Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to incorporate various grant conditions from Trump Administration executive orders.
Just last month, the Ninth Circuit substantially upheld an injunction against similar conditions in Martin Luther King, Jr. County, et al., v. Scott Turner, et al., in which King County challenged conditions attached to grants by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Transport (DOT). Consistent with that authority, the local governments here seek an order declaring the grant conditions at issue unlawful, void, and unenforceable and enjoining their imposition and enforcement.
Now that the complaint has been filed, it is anticipated that the next step will be a court motion for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
- See the version of this release published on Medium by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
