Will Trump’s AmeriCorps cuts stick? Federal judge rules them unconstitutional
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Federal judge ruled Trump's $21M AmeriCorps funding cut unconstitutional.
- Ruling may halt workforce terminations, restore millions to Washington programs.
- Legal uncertainty continues as affected groups await federal agency guidance.
Two months after the Trump administration abruptly cut more than $21 million in AmeriCorps grants, decrying waste, a court order issued Wednesday at the urging of 24 state attorneys general blocked the administration’s efforts to dismantle the federal agency for national service and volunteerism.
As previously reported by The News Tribune, 99 corps members were cut in Pierce County, impacting organizations like the Imagine Justice Project, Girl Scouts of Western Washington, the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and the Washington Conservation Corps.
Many of the affected organizations operated on small budgets and relied on corps members to fulfill their missions, which include helping vulnerable youth, the environment, veterans, seniors, low-income people and food banks. The abrupt cancellation left many corps members — who are often young and living paycheck to paycheck — without stipends, education grants and valuable job experience.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown joined attorneys general in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin — in addition to the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania — in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan to “eliminate nearly 90% of AmeriCorps’ workforce, abruptly cancel its contracts and close $400 million worth of AmeriCorps-supported programs,” according to a news release.
A federal judge found the Trump administration’s actions were unlawful “because Congress explicitly required that the agency provide advance notice and an opportunity to comment on any major changes to AmeriCorps services,” according to the press release.
“Today’s order restores $12 million in unspent funds vital to AmeriCorps programs in Washington,” said the Washington Attorney General’s Office. “The court’s decision preliminarily stops the Trump administration from terminating them while the litigation continues.”
As of Friday afternoon the Trump administration had not filed an appeal. It has 60 days to do so.
“We’ll continue this fight until the Trump administration finally respects the rule of law and the value of community service,” Brown said in the news release.
What does this mean for the affected programs?
On Friday the immediate impacts of the ruling were unclear. Messages the News Tribune left with Serve Washington, which administers the programs in the state, were not immediately returned.
In a message sent to program recipients Thursday, which was shared with The News Tribune, Serve Washington program director Dyann Trujillo said there are many unanswered questions about the action and meaning of the ruling.
“We are working with our legal team and [America’s Service Commissions] to understand what directions to provide without incurring unneeded risk. More specifics may not be available until next week,” Trujillo wrote.
In the email, Trujillo said by 5 p.m. Friday AmeriCorps would provide written notices of the court order to recipients of the terminated awards in the plaintiff states and impacted AmeriCorps members. By 5 p.m. Tuesday, AmeriCorps would file a status report documenting the actions it has taken to comply with the order, she wrote.
Curt Hart with the Washington Department of Ecology told The News Tribune on Friday he hoped the court ruling would restore the federal AmeriCorps grant that made up 14% of the Washington Conservation Corps’ budget.
If that happens, Curt said, it would restore the AmeriCorps Education awards members had expected to receive to use for tuition or to repay student loans. Additionally, it would allow the federal AmeriCorps program to deploy Washington Conservation Corps members to help communities outside of Washington affected by natural disasters, he said.
“I think a lot depends on when and how the case will finally be decided,” Curt said in an email. “Yesterday’s decision did give us guarded optimism.”
Messages left with the Girl Scouts of Western Washington (which would see fewer girl scout troops and programs with the cuts) and the Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge (which would no longer be able to host as many field trips) were not immediately returned Friday. The Imagine Justice Project in Pierce County — which saw cuts to its successful youth violence prevention programs — said all of its programs had to formally exit AmeriCorps members by May 28, according to coordinator Kaitlan Ohler.
“Many of our members have had to make other arrangements for income and in some cases housing,” she said Friday.
This story was originally published June 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM.
