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Attorney General Bonta is challenging the Trump Administration’s illegal actions to dismantle the federal government, withhold services and funding, and strip Californians of their constitutional rights 

August 4, 2025 - SACRAMENTO – Since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Department of bonta rob california assemblymanJustice (DOJ) have acted as a first and last line of defense against an onslaught of illegal executive orders, baseless actions, and wholesale dismantling of our government and the rule of law. Today, Attorney General Bonta reported on DOJ’s progress in safeguarding California’s funding, protecting programs and services, and defending California’s values amid ongoing illegal attacks from the Trump Administration. In just over six months, Attorney General Bonta has filed 37 lawsuits, leading or co-leading 23 of them, and separately filed more than 40 amicus briefs in support of other litigation against the Trump Administration. In the 19 cases where he has sought and a district court has ruled on early relief, he’s succeeded in 17 of them, with 13 orders blocking President Trump’s illegal actions currently in effect. He’s also secured concessions and reversals outside of court, including the Department of Education’s recent decision to restore funding it had illegally frozen just days after California filed a lawsuit.

Attorney General Bonta has ensured that roughly $168 billion continued to flow to the state through a single early lawsuit challenging the President’s illegal and sweeping freeze of federal funding. He has also protected an estimated $11.1 billion in federal grant funding from successive targeted efforts by the Trump Administration to terminate, impound, or condition specific funding for education, healthcare, transportation, and more; defended constitutional rights like birthright citizenship and the right to vote; and stopped the dismantling of federal agencies like U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) and AmeriCorps, among other relief to the states. Looking ahead, Attorney General Bonta and CADOJ remain committed to holding the President and his administration accountable each and every time they break the law. 

“In his first week in office, President Trump went after a full-third of California’s budget – and we went to court less than 24 hours later and stopped him in his tracks. When the Administration’s first effort to freeze all federal funding to California failed, it changed course, flooding the zone with near-constant attempts to cut off funding like a dangerous and unruly game of wack-a-mole. But this is not a game. We’re talking about people’s livelihoods, their health, their education, and in some cases, even their lives. That’s why every time the President breaks the law, my office stands ready to take him to court,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “For every dollar we’ve been given by the Governor and the Legislature in Special Session funding, we’ve returned more than $33,600 for the state. I’m proud of my incredible team who has been working around the clock to protect California’s people, values, and resources in the face of relentless attacks. We know that this work is just the beginning, but we are not backing down. Too much is at stake, whether it be school programs for our kids, research for our future, medical care for our sick, or infrastructure that keeps our cars driving and planes in the air. California will continue to fight at every turn to hold the President and his Administration accountable to the Constitution they swore to uphold.”

“California’s early, proactive, and defensive actions have helped California maintain its values in the face of wholesale attacks against our families and communities, while also serving as a backstop against tyrannical actions by President Trump and those who aim to ignore the rule of law,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “As the federal government continues to attack our state, California will keep defending itself, its values, and its people.”

WHAT WE’RE SAVING

  • 1/3 of the State’s Budget: After the Office of Management and Budget issued a directive that purported to freeze nearly $3 trillion in federal funding, Attorney General Bonta led a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit. He secured an immediate temporary restraining order and subsequent preliminary injunction, preserving roughly $168 billion in federal funding for California, representing about one-third of the State’s budget. These are tax dollars coming back into California, which contributes to the federal budget as a net-donor state.
  • Transportation Funding: California receives approximately $7 billion in grant funding from U.S Department of Transportation (DOT) each year to support and maintain the roads, highways, railways, airways, and bridges that connect our communities and carry our residents to their workplaces and their homes. In June, Attorney General Bonta secured a court order blocking the DOT from imposing unlawful immigration enforcement conditions on this grant funding.
  • Education Funding: Attorney General Bonta protected $939 million for California schools last week when the U.S. Department of Education reversed its decision to withhold vital education funding just weeks before the school year was set to start in the face of a multistate lawsuit. This funding supports key programs for after school and summer learning, teacher preparation, and to support students learning English.
  • Public Health Funding: Attorney General Bonta also protected approximately $11 billion in critical public health funding nationwide, including roughly $972 million for California through litigation challenging and subsequent court orders blocking the abrupt termination of federal funding for grants that provide essential support for a wide range of urgent public health needs, including identifying, tracking, and addressing infectious diseases; ensuring access to immunizations; and modernizing critical public health infrastructure.
  • Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Funding: After the Trump Administration sought to withhold billions of dollars in funding approved by bipartisan majorities in Congress for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit and secured a court order restoring more than $300 million in funding previously awarded to California.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

  • Stopping the Dismantling of the Federal Government: From his first days in office, President Trump has made clear his desire to eliminate many federal agencies and has sought to do so by dismantling the federal government from within. Attorney General Bonta has fought to halt these efforts, securing court orders restoring AmeriCorps programs and funding; blocking the mass firing and restructuring of HHS; and reversing the dismantling of several smaller agencies including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
  • Defending Birthright Citizenship: In the Attorney General’s first case against the second Trump Administration, just one day after President Trump took office, he filed a lawsuit challenging the President’s unconstitutional executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. At stake are an estimated 24,500 children born in California each year that would be denied the citizenship they are entitled to under the U.S. Constitution. Attorney General Bonta, with a coalition of attorneys general from across the country, has won multiple court orders barring implementation of this order nationwide while litigation continues. 
  • Safeguarding California’s Sensitive Private Data: Attorney General Bonta has filed multiple lawsuits to protect Californians’ personal and private data from misuse by the federal government. He secured a court order blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Americans’ financial data; sued the Trump Administration for illegally sharing Medicaid data with  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and challenged the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s illegal demands that states turn over the sensitive and personal data of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. 

OTHER WORK 

  • Filing Amicus Briefs: Attorney General Bonta has filed more than 40 amicus briefs, including briefs defending law firms against President Trump’s retaliatory attacks; pushing back against the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other federal agencies; demanding ICE end unconstitutional immigration stops in Los Angeles; and standing up for our immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities. 
  • Sharing Guidance: Attorney General Bonta issued guidance to law enforcement, prosecutorspublic institutionsschool officials, and more to assist them in complying with state laws like SB 54, which limits the use of state and local resources for immigration enforcement. 
  • Issuing Consumer Alerts: Attorney General Bonta is committed to ensuring that Californians understand their rights and protections under state law in the face of the Trump Administration’s attacks. The Attorney General has issued a number of consumer alerts helping immigrants understand their rights and the public to avoid notario fraud and other scamswatch out for fake ICE officers, and understand tenant protections
  • Providing Resources: Attorney General Bonta and a multistate coalition advised businesses and nonprofits of the ongoing viability and importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives. A similar coalition issued separate guidance clarifying that despite the Trump Administration’s recent efforts to mislabel and undermine these critical efforts, public and private entities can still lawfully engage in environmental justice work.  

You can find more information on Attorney General Bonta’s efforts to protect our people, values, and resources at https://oag.ca.gov/federal-accountability. You can find the Attorney General’s full report to the Legislature here
Source: CA. DOJ

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