Trump administration must restore AmeriCorps programs in 24 states, judge rules

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By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) -A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to restore programs funded by AmeriCorps grants in 24 Democratic-led states but declined to bar the federal agency for national service and volunteering from cutting the bulk of its workforce.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Baltimore issued an injunction requiring the administration to reinstate millions of dollars in grants in those states and the District of Columbia and ordered the administration to restore thousands of volunteer service workers the administration had sent home.

Her ruling applied only to the Democratic-led states who sued in April to challenge what they said was an unlawful dismantling of AmeriCorps by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat who helped lead the litigation, in a statement said the ruling safeguards services communities rely on to educate students, preserve parks and care for the elderly from “unlawful and reckless cuts.”

AmeriCorps did not respond to requests for comment.

A White House spokesperson in a statement said Trump “has the right to restore accountability to the entire executive branch, and this will not be the final say on the matter.”

AmeriCorps’ grants fund local and national organizations that offer community services related to education, disaster preparedness, conservation and more. It sends more than 200,000 volunteers out nationally as part of its programs.

The states sued after the administration terminated over 1,000 grants and placed 85% of AmeriCorps’ staff on administrative leave with the intent to terminate them effective June 24 as part of a push by Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the federal government.

The cuts impacted $396.5 million in federal funding for AmeriCorps programs and tens of thousands of volunteers nationally. The agency has a roughly $1 billion budget and had more than 500 employees when Trump took office.

Democratic state attorneys general argued Trump lacks the authority under the U.S. Constitution to gut AmeriCorps, which was created by Congress, and that the agency failed to follow proper procedures before altering program services.

Boardman, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, partially agreed, saying AmeriCorps failed to engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking before making major changes.

“Because the agency did not provide notice and an opportunity to comment before it made significant changes to service delivery, the States were unable to voice their concerns about these changes,” she wrote.

But Boardman said the states lacked standing to block the mass job cuts, saying an anticipated delay in their grant applications being reviewed due to reduced staff was not sufficient grounds.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in BostonEditing by Bill Berkrot)