Judge Halts Trump Admin’s $600 Million Public Health Funding Cut Targeting 4 Blue States

The ruling pauses a clawback of funds allocated to California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota. The states filed a lawsuit alleging political retaliation.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building in Washington on March 27, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from cutting more than $600 million in public health grants to four Democratic-led states, siding with the states’ argument that the cuts appeared politically motivated.

U.S. District Judge Manish Shah issued a 14-day temporary restraining order preventing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from rescinding the funds allocated to California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota.

The ruling came a day after the states filed a lawsuit challenging the administration’s directive, with officials in the filing calling it unconstitutional.

The cuts, directed by the White House Office of Management and Budget under Director Russell Vought, mostly go to the Public Health Infrastructure Grant, which funds public health departments to recruit and train workers, improve organizational systems, and modernize data infrastructure.

HHS said in a notice to Congress that the grants are “inconsistent with agency priorities,” according to the filing. The priorities include modernizing public health infrastructure and not supporting illegal immigration, the lawsuit states.

The states alleged the reductions were retaliation for their policies on immigration, “gender-affirming care for minors,” and other issues opposed by President Donald Trump.

Trump has said that agencies should stop paying sanctuary cities, and the Office of Management and Budget has said that it directed health officials to withdraw the $600 million from the states.

“Starting February 1, we’re not making any payments to sanctuary cities,” Trump said during a Jan. 13 speech in Detroit, referencing jurisdictions whose policies prohibit local authorities from cooperating with federal immigration agents.

Trump said that such cities “do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens, and it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come. So we’re not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary.”

Shah wrote in his two-page order that the states had shown a likelihood of success in proving the cuts were “based on arbitrary, capricious or unconstitutional rationales.”

The judge found the states would suffer “irreparable harm” without the injunction, while the public interest favored maintaining the funding. The temporary restraining order keeps the grants flowing while the case proceeds.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who led the lawsuit, said the directive threatened more than $100 million in grants for the state, including programs at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

The complaint, filed in the Northern District of Illinois, names Vought, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CDC Acting Director Jim O'Neill, Trump, and other federal entities as defendants. It alleges violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution, claiming the cuts impose post hoc conditions on congressionally approved funds.

Specific reductions include $7.2 million from the American Medical Association in Illinois for supporting transgender procedures for children, and broader cuts to STI prevention and public health monitoring. The administration has prioritized banning federal funding for youth “gender-affirming care” and revoking certain childhood vaccine recommendations, drawing criticism from medical groups.

HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.