Federal Accountability

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioner who is challenging President Trump’s illegal attempt to fire her without cause.

A copy of the brief can be found here. 

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general and two states in filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to ensure that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) preserves funding for the Solar for All federal grant program while litigation is pending. In August, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency would terminate the Solar for All program, asserting the agency no longer had statutory authority to administer the funds. Administrator Zeldin’s directive terminated nearly $250 million in funds owed to California, where state agencies were preparing to build out community solar and associated clean energy projects. In October, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition challenged the Trump Administration in a pair of lawsuits over the unlawful termination of this funding. In today’s motion, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the coalition asks the District Court to freeze congressionally appropriated Solar for All funds — including both the funds still in the states’ accounts and the funds already taken out — so that the Court can restore the program later if the coalition is ultimately successful in their litigation. A preliminary injunction will ensure that the funds are protected from being moved outside of EPA, where they could become unrecoverable.

“Without the District Court’s intervention, states including California will experience irreparable harm from the EPA’s actions,” said Attorney General Bonta. “That’s why we, alongside a broad coalition of attorneys general, are filing this motion to protect funding for the Solar for All program—a nationwide program that promises to address climate change, stimulate the economy, and promote energy independence and grid reliability, while also lowering energy costs.”

In 2022, Congress appropriated $7 billion to EPA through the Inflation Reduction Act specifically to develop competitive grant programs to expand solar energy access nationwide. EPA designed the Solar for All program to provide financial and technical assistance for the deployment of zero-emission technology, including residential and distributed solar to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in low-income and disadvantaged communities. EPA issued 60 competitive awards in 2024 to states, municipalities, and non-profit organizations, ranging from $43.5 million to almost $250 million per recipient. 

In their motion, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that: 

• The states are likely to prevail in their claims that the Trump Administration’s actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act and congressional mandates. 
• The states will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief prohibiting EPA from de-obligating and reprogramming Solar for All funding. In California, state agencies were expecting to receive almost $250 million, including more than $200 million to build out community solar systems, which would enable California residents to obtain 20% monthly discounts on electricity bills in exchange for participating in the Solar for All program—primarily aimed at lower- and middle-income families. The funding also included $9 million for workforce training—enabling more California workers to acquire skills needed to help build a sustainable future. 
• The irreparable harms that would flow from EPA’s decision to move the Solar for All funds outside of the agency overwhelmingly favor preliminary injunctive relief.  

In filing today’s motion for a preliminary injunction, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Also joining today’s filing are the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, as well as the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.  

A copy of the motion can be found here.

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Governor Gavin Newsom this week renewed their request that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California block the continued federalization and deployment of California National Guard troops in and around Los Angeles. After using isolated incidents of violence in June as a pretext to federalize the California National Guard, the Trump Administration implemented a months-long military occupation of the Los Angeles area, without any justification, and with no apparent end in sight. 

“The Trump Administration is holding California’s National Guard hostage, repeatedly extending their federalization and deployment without basis or justification,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “I urge the District Court to move swiftly and return our hardworking service members back to their regular duty and regular lives.”

“President Trump’s flirtation with authoritarianism must end. Full stop. No president gets to use the National Guard as a personal police force to go after American communities,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “We’re asking the courts — again — to step in, because this isn’t politics, it’s a threat to our democracy and to the safety of the Americans we serve.” 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision clarifying the jurisdiction of the District Court to hear Attorney General Bonta and Governor Newsom’s challenge to the extension orders, and last week, the District Court agreed to restart proceedings. 

In the motion, Attorney General Bonta and Governor Newsom argue there was no basis for the August 5 order extending the federalization of the California National Guard in Los Angeles, and there remains no basis for keeping them in California now. The lack of any violence or other justifying events in Los Angeles and the Trump Administration’s choice to remove most of those troops from Los Angeles to Portland and Chicago confirms it. The Attorney General and Governor urge the District Court to grant their motion, enjoin any continued federalization and deployment of National Guard troops in and around Los Angeles, and return these troops back to the command and control of Governor Newsom.

BACKGROUND  

Attorney General Bonta is committed to holding President Trump and his Administration accountable for overreaching their authority under the law and infringing on Californians’ constitutional rights in their efforts to transform America into a military state and National Guard troops into the President’s personal police force. 

• Initial Federalization of California National Guard: In June, Attorney General Bonta and Governor Newsom filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful orders to federalize the California National Guard and utilize National Guard troops for civilian law enforcement in Los Angeles in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. That same week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted California emergency relief, blocking the federalization order and returning command of the California National Guard to Governor Newsom; that order is currently stayed by the Ninth Circuit pending appeal. 
• Posse Comitatus Act Violations: In August, the Attorney General’s Office presented evidence of Posse Comitatus Act violations during a three-day trial before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The Court subsequently granted a permanent injunction enjoining the Trump Administration from engaging in the same or similar activity in the future. The Court’s order is temporarily paused while the Ninth Circuit considers the federal government’s motion for a stay. 
• Deployment of California National Guard Troops to Oregon: Last week, Attorney General Bonta secured a final ruling blocking the unlawful deployment of California National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon over the objections of both states’ governors. Over the course of a three day trial, attorneys for the California Department of Justice, Oregon Department of Justice, and Portland City Attorney’s Office presented evidence and argued in court that the federalization and deployment of the Oregon National Guard and the cross-state deployment of the California National Guard to Portland was beyond the authority of the federal government and violates the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
• Supporting Other States’ Cases: Attorney General Bonta has previously supported Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to their cities. Most recently, Attorney General Bonta filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Illinois in support of Illinois’s lawsuit challenging the federalization and deployment of the Illinois National Guard to Chicago

A copy of the renewed motion for a preliminary injunction is available here. 

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Government re-opening:

“How we treat those with the least among us reveals the character of a country. We are proud to have fought to secure full SNAP benefits for more than 41 million low-income Americans during the unprecedented government shutdown, in the face of disgraceful efforts by President Trump and his Administration to withhold those benefits. We welcome Congress’s decision to fully fund the SNAP program, and we now urge the Trump Administration to ensure that the funds are disbursed immediately. 

Yesterday, we secured a decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts confirming that the Trump Administration cannot force states to undo the steps they took to ensure that their most vulnerable residents could receive full SNAP benefits. If necessary, we are ready to defend this ruling through any further legal proceedings. 

Finally, it’s worth emphasizing that the deal that ended the government shutdown completely and utterly failed to prevent health premiums from skyrocketing. Going forward, I hope Congress rises to the challenge and supports families who will face these soaring costs.”

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has backed down from its effort to rescind states’ access to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the academic recovery of students following the COVID-19 pandemic. The stipulated agreement, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, leaves in place the preliminary injunction secured by California and other states until all of the funding at issue in the lawsuit is disbursed, effectively resolving the lawsuit in the states’ favor. In California, this agreement will protect over $200 million in previously awarded and obligated funding that school districts are putting to use for programs such as afterschool and summer learning initiatives, the purchase of educational technology, and the provision of mental health services and support.   

“President Trump should not be playing games with the academic future of our children — but when he does and when he breaks the law to do so, we’ll see him in court,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This reversal by the Trump Administration is a huge win for California schools that are relying on this funding to support struggling students and ensure their academic success. It means they do not have to wait for litigation to play out and can confidently spend down this grant funding today. We’re continuing to secure full and final relief for Californians across a number of our lawsuits — and we’re just getting started.” 

HISTORY OF THE CASE

On March 28, 2025, Education Secretary Linda McMahon notified state departments of education that the U.S. Department of Education had unilaterally rescinded access to previously awarded and obligated education funding that is currently being used by school districts to support the academic recovery of students following the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs and services address, among other things, the impact of lost instructional time; students’ academic, social, and emotional needs; and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on marginalized students, including homeless children and children in foster care.  

On April 10, 2025, Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of states challenged the Department of Education’s actions. The states argued that the Department’s decision to rescind access to this funding is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, exceeds the Department’s statutory and regulatory authority under the law, and will cause immediate and devastating harm to school districts in California and across the nation.

On May 6 and June 3, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the federal government from rescinding access to hundreds of millions of dollars in vital education funding while litigation proceeded. The stipulated agreement, filed today with the court, keeps these preliminary injunctions in place until the balance of remaining funding is released to the states. A copy of the agreement is available here.  

SECURING RELIEF FOR CALIFORNIANS

Attorney General Bonta has filed 46 lawsuits against the Trump Administration in 42 weeks, with significant early victories and full and complete wins in litigation protecting California’s funding, programs, and services; safeguarding Californians’ rights and personal, private data; and preventing the dismantling of the federal government.  

Attorney General Bonta has secured permanent injunctions blocking the Trump Administration’s effort to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on billions of dollars in annual transportation and homeland security grants and halting the Administration’s unlawful attempt to slash funding for a critical energy program. He secured full and permanent relief for California schools in his lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s withholding of over $900 million in funding at the start of the school year, with the remaining tranche of funding scheduled to be released in the coming days. And he stopped $184 million in AmeriCorps cuts, with the White House Office of Management and Budget agreeing to release these funds rather than defend its unlawful actions in court. Most recently, he secured a final ruling barring the Trump Administration from deploying the California National Guard to Portland. 

While many cases are still ongoing, Attorney General Bonta has also secured preliminary relief in the vast majority of cases where he has sought and where a court has issued a ruling: blocking the Trump Administration’s attack on the Department of Health and Human Services; stopping its attempt to impose cruel new restrictions on access to public benefit programs like Head Start based on immigration status; preventing it from allowing ICE to comb through the private data of Medicaid recipients or from bullying states into turning over the data of SNAP recipients to aid in its mass deportation efforts; and safeguarding the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, among other decisions. 

You can find more on the California Department of Justice’s work to hold the federal government accountable here: https://oag.ca.gov/federal-accountability. 

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta this week co-led a coalition of 15 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of a challenge to the Trump Administration’s efforts to deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians by prematurely terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS provides temporary legal status to immigrants living in the United States due to dangerous conditions in their home countries. In the brief, the attorneys general urge the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the district court’s order and prevent the Trump Administration’s decisions from going into effect, arguing that the early termination of Haitian and Venezuelan TPS is arbitrary and capricious and thus unlawful.

“The Trump Administration’s ongoing attack on immigrant communities must end now. Temporary Protected Status holders have fled violence and instability. They are here lawfully, and have strengthened California’s economy and communities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “They are not a burden nor a threat, but an asset to California and communities across the nation. We won’t stand by while the Trump Administration makes this cruel and destabilizing attempt to strip their legal immigration status.” 

TPS is a critical humanitarian tool and part of the United States’ long history of providing safe haven to those fleeing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other crises that make the return of TPS holders to their home countries unsafe. Nearly 1.2 million individuals living in the United States are TPS recipients or are eligible for this protection. The termination of TPS grants will harm California, which is home to more than 72,000 TPS beneficiaries, the fourth most of any state. Many TPS holders have lived here for a decade or more and have started families and businesses, bought homes, and significantly contributed to their communities. To revoke these long-standing protections would force families who have established their lives in the U.S. to return to unstable and dangerous conditions. Conditions in both Venezuela and Haiti remain unsafe and have been classified by the U.S. State Department as “Level 4: Do Not Travel” countries, the highest risk designation given due to severe threats.

In the amicus brief, the coalition notes that the Trump Administration unlawfully failed to weigh the impact of the termination on TPS holders as well as many other important considerations, including: 

• Families, including hundreds of thousands U.S. citizen children, who will suffer trauma and hardship from unnecessary and forced separation;
• The economy and workforce, which are enriched by the employment, entrepreneurship, and contributions of TPS holders, with $11.5 billion annually contributed by TPS Venezuelans alone;
• Public revenues, which are enhanced by the taxes contributed by TPS holders, including an estimated $19 billion alone in property taxes; 
• Public health, depriving hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders and their U.S. citizen families of their employer-sponsored health insurance; and
• Public safety, which will be damaged by making TPS holders less likely to report crime.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting the nearly 10 million immigrants who call California home. He has repeatedly supported challenges to the early termination of the TPS designation for Haitians and Venezuelans, and defended pathways for legal immigration for those fleeing dangerous conditions in their home counties. Attorney General Bonta has secured permanent injunctions blocking the Trump Administration’s attempts to illegally condition homeland security and transportation funding on state participation in immigration enforcement. And he has temporarily blocked the Trump Administration’s efforts to impose cruel new restrictions on access to public benefit programs based on immigration status while litigation continues.

Attorney General Bonta co-led the filing of this week's brief with New York Attorney General Letitia James. They are joined by attorneys general from Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

A copy of the amicus brief is available here.

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued the following statement on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’s decision granting a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) brought by the multistate coalition co-led by California. Today’s decision blocks the Trump Administration from enforcing the directive by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that states must “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025” or face severe penalties. 

“The court’s ruling confirms that the Trump Administration cannot force states to undo the steps they took to ensure that their most vulnerable residents could receive full SNAP benefits, consistent with a court order and with USDA’s prior guidance. Instead of paying full SNAP benefits, as a court ordered, the Administration has fought that court order tooth and nail and threatened to penalize the states that took actions to help the Administration comply with the order. Once again, California refuses to be bullied by this Administration.”

A copy of the court’s decision can be found here.

Expansion of expedited removal is a threat that bypasses due process, denying individuals their right to a fair legal hearing 

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a coalition of 19 attorneys general in opposing the Trump Administration’s legally flawed effort to dramatically expand “expedited removal” into the interior of the United States and put untold numbers of Americans at risk for unlawful detention and deportation without due process. With expedited removal, a deportation can be carried out in little more than a matter of hours or days. The individual does not see a judge or have access to other safeguards that most Americans take for granted as a matter of basic justice. In an amicus brief in Make the Road New York v. Noem, the attorneys general urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to uphold a district court’s order temporarily halting this dramatic expansion of expedited removal, which stands in opposition to more than a century of precedent holding that those who have entered the U.S. are protected under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As the U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized, the Constitution protects all persons in the U.S. from the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Deportation can be among the most severe and consequential deprivations of liberty an individual can experience — it can mean loss of one’s home, family, and for some, life itself. 

“The federal government is attempting to deport people who have built lives and become part of their communities without giving them a fair hearing before a judge. It’s antithetical to our democratic values — and a clear violation of these individuals’ constitutional rights. Without due process, mistakes are inevitable. And with the current administration’s preference for volume and speed over accuracy and the rule of law, these life-upending mistakes will only continue to grow,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Think for a moment on this: If the Trump Administration had its way, there would be more due process rights afforded for traffic citations than in cases that decide whether a person is legally allowed to remain in this country. This is part and parcel for President Trump's indiscriminate mass deportation campaign. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we are a nation of laws where everyone, including President Trump, must play by the rules. California will continue to fight to ensure that everyone in our state is afforded basic due process and can live without fear of persecution.”

The Trump Administration is expanding the use of expedited removal to allow federal officials to deport undocumented immigrants from anywhere in the U.S. under a fast-tracked process that does not allow for access to legal representation, witnesses, or a meaningful opportunity to present evidence and defenses. Initially, expedited removal occurred only at the border, and later it was authorized to be applied to undocumented individuals who were apprehended within 14 days of arrival in the U.S. without inspection and within 100 miles of the border. Now, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is allowing expedited removal proceedings to deport undocumented immigrants living anywhere in the U.S. if the individuals cannot establish, to the satisfaction of a rank-and-file immigration officer, that they have continuously resided in the country for at least two years. This decision is then final without any further hearing or review. Immigration officers already hold substantial authority. Their power to deport will be unchecked with the expansion of expedited removals, and the incentive to seek mass arrests through sweeps and raids will only grow.

Even before the expansion of expedited removal, there were instances of mistakes and abuses documented in the execution of expedited removal. Now, immigration officers are being asked to make even more complicated determinations than when expedited removal was just used in close proximity to the border. In a nation with a population of more than 340 million, immigration officers must accurately identify the small fraction who are not citizens and who have been continuously present in the U.S. for less than two years—meaning mistakes are only likely to increase. Already, as the Trump administration has carried out large-scale sweeps and raids, there have been reports of U.S. citizens and others with lawful status being chased, manhandled, arrested, and detained, sometimes for days. And concerns have mounted that who gets targeted depends more than anything else on factors like race, the language one speaks, and the type of work one does. 

In their brief, the attorneys general note that an expansion of expedited removals will inflict serious harm on the states’ families, communities, and the economy. Already some community members are afraid to leave their homes, even for basic necessities like food or to go to church. Additionally, more than 5.5 million U.S. born children live in mixed-status households. These children are at risk of severe mental health challenges, material hardship, or even placement in the foster care system. The risk of expedited removal, and the resulting lack of due process, may also discourage immigrants from reporting crime or seeking needed medical care, negatively affecting public safety and health.  

The economic impacts are just as staggering. If the President’s mass deportation campaign continues, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) could decline as much as 7.4% by 2028, prices could rise by 9.1%, and tens of thousands of U.S. workers could lose their jobs. In California alone, mass deportation is expected to remove $275 billion from the state’s economy and result in $23 billion in lost tax revenue each year. With harms of this magnitude, it is essential that our immigration system aligns with the Constitution and fundamental principles of justice.

In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

A copy of the brief is available here.

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Illinois in support of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s lawsuit challenging the federalization and deployment of the Illinois National Guard to Chicago. In the brief, Attorney General Bonta, along with Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, argue that 10 U.S.C. 12406 does not support the Trump Administration’s extraordinary attempt to deploy members of the military to the streets of Chicago. Congress enacted 10 U.S.C. 12406 to address invasions, rebellions, and other “unusual and extreme exigencies.” Nothing of the kind has occurred in Chicago — or anywhere else in the United States — over the past year. Moreover, nothing in the record shows that “regular forces” were unable to execute the laws, the precondition for which the federal government relies on for its invocation of 10 U.S.C. 12406 to federalize the National Guard.

“The Trump Administration is tying itself in knots in its attempt to justify the unjustifiable — the deployment of military troops to American streets during a time of undeniable peace and order,” said Attorney General Bonta. “There is no rebellion. There is no invasion. And there is no inability of regular forces to execute the law. At least one of these preconditions must be met for the invocation of 10 U.S.C. 12406, yet the President’s evidence for any of these has been entirely unsatisfactory and some would say nonexistent. I urge the Supreme Court to reign in this Administration’s reckless interpretation of this century-old statute before the President’s vision of a militarized America is fully realized.”

Attorney General Bonta previously filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in this same case opposing the Trump Administration’s nearly limitless conception of presidential authority to federalize the National Guard and the activities those troops can engage in. 

BACKGROUND 

Attorney General Bonta is committed to holding President Trump and his Administration accountable for overreaching their authority under the law and infringing on Californians’ constitutional rights in their efforts to transform America into a military state and National Guard troops into the President’s personal police force. 

• Deployment of California National Guard Troops to Oregon:  On Friday, Attorney General Bonta secured a final ruling blocking the unlawful deployment of California National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon over the objections of both states’ governors. Over the course of a three day trial, attorneys for the California Department of Justice, Oregon Department of Justice, and Portland City Attorney’s Office presented evidence and argued in court that the federalization and deployment of the Oregon National Guard and the cross-state deployment of the California National Guard to Portland was beyond the authority of the federal government and violates the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

• Suing Over Initial Federalization of California National Guard: In June, Attorney General Bonta and Governor Newsom filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful orders to federalize the California National Guard and utilize National Guard troops for civilian law enforcement in Los Angeles in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. That same week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted California emergency relief, blocking the federalization order and returning command of the California National Guard to Governor Newsom; that order is currently stayed by the Ninth Circuit pending appeal. 

• Posse Comitatus Act Violations: In August, the Attorney General’s Office presented evidence of Posse Comitatus Act violations during a three-day trial before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The Court subsequently granted a permanent injunction enjoining the Trump Administration from engaging in the same or similar activity in the future. The Court’s order is temporarily paused while the Ninth Circuit considers the federal government’s motion for a stay. 

• Challenging Ongoing Federalization and Deployment: This past Friday, Attorney General Bonta asked the District Court to restart proceedings and block the ongoing, unnecessary, and baseless federalization and deployment of the California National Guard in Los Angeles through February 2026. He argues that 10 U.S.C. § 12406 does not authorize the sort of broad-ranging, never-ending federalization and military occupation of American cities that the Trump Administration is perpetrating. On Tuesday, the Court agreed to resume consideration of the case. 

• Supporting Other States’ Cases: Attorney General Bonta has previously supported Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to their cities.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.

 Motion challenges Trump Administration for issuing conflicting guidance on November SNAP benefits and seeking to intimidate states for starting to disburse those benefits pursuant to court order 

This morning, court granted coalition’s request to pause USDA guidance ordering states to undo implementation of full benefits, set remote hearing for today at 12:30 PM PT

OAKLAND — Fighting to continue protecting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the month of November, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today co-led a coalition of 23 attorneys general and three governors in filing a further motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In the motion for a TRO, the coalition urges the court to hold a hearing later today because of the conflicting guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) since November 3. USDA’s latest guidance document, released on Saturday, November 8, claims that sending full SNAP payment files “was unauthorized” and that the states must “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.” In California, SNAP benefits already flowed to many recipients pursuant to an order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on Thursday, November 6, requiring the Trump Administration to fully fund November SNAP benefits. On Friday, November 7, in response to the court’s order, USDA notified states that it was “working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances” and that it “will complete the processes necessary to make funds available to support your subsequent transmittal of full issuance files to your EBT processors.” This morning, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the coalition’s request to pause USDA’s November 8 guidance document from taking effect and set a remote hearing for today at 12:30 PM PT.

“The Trump Administration does not want full November SNAP benefits to be issued. That should be clear as day by now. It is fighting us tooth and nail to stop vital food assistance from reaching more than 41 million low-income Americans. My fellow attorneys general remain undeterred. We have not shied away from a fight, and we certainly have no plans to start now,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We are back in court because President Trump and his Administration have issued public threats against states that have already issued full November SNAP benefits. If the Trump Administration is looking for someone to admonish, it need only look in the mirror.” 

In the motion for a TRO, the attorneys general write that:

• USDA failed to explain how it was “unauthorized” for the states to send full benefit files while the Rhode Island District Court’s orders were in effect and after USDA had itself assured the states on November 7 that it was implementing full benefits.
• USDA also failed to explain how the states could “undo” the issuance of full SNAP benefits or make any effort to grapple with the severe consequences of its about-face.
• Before USDA’s November 8 guidance, and in reliance on the District of Rhode Island’s order and USDA’s promise of “mak[ing] funds available,” many states acted swiftly to do their part to get benefits to their citizens by sending benefit issuance files to their EBT vendors. Quickly thereafter, vendors received the benefit files and loaded EBT cards with SNAP benefits, and SNAP recipients began using their November benefits to purchase critically needed food. Those steps cannot be unwound easily, if at all.

On October 28, Attorney General Bonta co-led the coalition in filing the lawsuit against the USDA, Secretary Brooke Rollins, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and Director Russell Vought over the unlawful suspension of SNAP benefits for the month of November. Since then, in several legal filings, the coalition has maintained that the Trump Administration is required to issue full November SNAP benefits. The lawsuit in the District of Rhode Island was brought by a coalition of local governments, nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and workers’ rights organizations.

Last night, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied USDA’s request for a stay pending appeal, but the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island’s order remains administratively stayed for approximately 36 hours to allow USDA to seek Supreme Court review. In light of the First Circuit’s denial of USDA’s request for a stay pending appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order this morning asking USDA whether it is still pursuing a stay of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island’s order and ordering further briefings if so. USDA has confirmed it still intends to pursue a stay and will file a supplemental brief.

The further motion for a TRO was co-led by Attorney General Bonta, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. They were joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

A copy of the further motion for a TRO can be found here.