A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration must reinstate AmeriCorps-funded programs in 24 Democratic-led states, following a lawsuit challenging the administration’s efforts to dismantle the national service agency. However, the judge declined to prevent mass layoffs within the agency.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, based in Baltimore, issued a partial injunction in response to a legal challenge brought by those states and the District of Columbia. They argued that the administration acted unlawfully in ending over 1,000 AmeriCorps grants and placing 85 per cent of the agency’s workforce on administrative leave, with plans to terminate them by June 24.
The lawsuit, filed in April, contended that former President Donald Trump overstepped his constitutional authority in moving to effectively dismantle AmeriCorps, a program created by Congress. The states also said the administration failed to follow proper legal procedures before halting or altering program services.
Judge Boardman, appointed by President Joe Biden had agreed in part, ruling that the administration should have followed a formal rulemaking process, including public notice and comment, before making such sweeping changes to state-level service programs.
“It did not,” she wrote. “As a result, the states have been irreparably harmed.”
However, the judge rejected the states’ request to block the planned layoffs of AmeriCorps staff. She found their claims about the impact of the job cuts too speculative and based on the unfounded assumption that reinstated employees would resume their previous duties without issue.
The states had argued that the layoffs would disrupt community services and delay grant evaluations, but Judge Boardman said those consequences were not concrete enough to warrant halting the firings.
Neither AmeriCorps nor the White House had commented.
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