by Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO — Advocates are applauding a sweeping legal victory as Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California’s litigation efforts against the Trump administration have preserved more than $168 billion in federal funding for the state. The legal campaign, initiated in response to what officials described as “wholesale attacks” by the Trump administration, has already yielded a staggering return on investment — more than 3.4 million percent on the $5 million spent to date on litigation.
“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 Gov. Newsom. “As the federal government continues to attack our state, California will keep defending itself, its values, and its people.”
The state has filed 37 lawsuits, leading or co-leading 23, and submitted more than 40 amicus briefs in support of other litigation. Of the 19 cases where a district court ruled on early relief, California succeeded in 17, with 13 court orders blocking Trump administration actions currently in effect.
One early lawsuit alone secured $168 billion for the state by halting Trump’s sweeping freeze of federal funding. Additional litigation protected approximately $11.1 billion in federal grant funding from being stripped away. In several cases, California’s legal filings resulted in reversals by federal agencies, including the Department of Education, which restored funding days after California sued.
“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,” said Attorney General Bonta. “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 whack-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.”
Bonta continued, “That’s why every time the President breaks the law, my office stands ready to take him to court. For every dollar we’ve been given by the Governor and the Legislature in Special Session funding, we’ve returned more than $33,600. I’m proud of my incredible team who have 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.”
In 2024, Gov. Newsom convened a special session to allocate $25 million to the California Department of Justice and other state agencies for litigation against the Trump administration, with an additional $25 million allocated to support legal aid for vulnerable Californians in civil proceedings.
Among the most high-profile legal actions is Newsom v. Trump, challenging the unlawful federalization of the California National Guard. Trump ordered the deployment of nearly 5,000 Guard members to Los Angeles without gubernatorial authorization. With nearly 4,700 now demobilized or in the process of doing so, California DOJ attorneys are taking the case to trial to establish that the deployment violated federal law.
The CA DOJ’s legal victories have blocked efforts to strip funding from education, healthcare, transportation, and other critical services. One-third of the state’s budget was preserved after the CA DOJ won a restraining order and injunction blocking a federal directive that sought to freeze $3 trillion in funding. Approximately $168 billion of that total was destined for California.
In June, the DOJ blocked the U.S. Department of Transportation from imposing immigration enforcement conditions on $7 billion in grant funding California receives annually. Last week, the Department of Education reversed its decision to withhold $939 million from California schools following a multistate lawsuit. The funds support programs including after-school services, teacher training, and English language education.
California also secured court orders preserving nearly $1 billion in public health funds for the state, part of a national $11 billion program supporting disease tracking, immunization access, and public health infrastructure. In another case, the state restored more than $300 million in electric vehicle infrastructure funding that had been frozen by the Trump administration.
Beyond funding, the CA DOJ has taken action to block Trump’s efforts to dismantle federal agencies. Court orders restored AmeriCorps programs, reversed restructuring plans for the Department of Health and Human Services, and reinstated several smaller agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
On the first day of Trump’s second term, the CA DOJ filed suit against an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. Approximately 24,500 children born annually in California would be affected. Court orders have since barred the order from taking effect nationwide.
California has also challenged federal efforts to misuse or obtain sensitive personal data. The DOJ won a court order blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Americans’ financial data, sued the Trump administration for sharing Medicaid data with ICE, and fought USDA demands for personal data of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients.
