In April, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) abruptly terminated roughly $820 million in grants that funded more than 200 organizations across 37 states to do life-saving work that makes communities safer. Today, we are leading the challenge to these illegal and arbitrary funding terminations in a class action lawsuit, filed by Democracy Forward and Perry Law alongside our partners from the Center for Children and Youth Justice, Health Resources in Action, FORCE Detroit, and Stop AAPI Hate.

Why are we suing? As a result of the cuts, some of us were forced to stop essential services—like providing housing for survivors of domestic violence, counseling young people to prevent and break cycles of crime, leading training for judges and law enforcement leaders, and conducting groundbreaking criminal justice research, among many other things.

My organization, the Vera Institute of Justice, lost $5 million in funding that helped make prisons safer, expanded diversion to community-based programs, supported crisis response programs for 911 calls for behavioral health emergencies, and aided Deaf survivors of crime and trafficking. Our organizations received identical form letters, without any advance notice, stating our funding had been summarily cut because our work “no longer effectuate[s] the program goals or agency priorities.” We did not even have the opportunity to recoup money for costs already incurred.

Even though the affected criminal justice programs are based in evidence and funded with bipartisan support, Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that they “do not align” with Trump administration priorities—despite the fact that many of the programs actually do align with the administration’s stated priorities.

For example, DOJ cut $400,000 from the Charleston Jewish Federation’s work to prevent hate crimes, despite the administration’s stated focus on antisemitism. DOJ also cut more than $20 million to the Institute for Intergovernmental Research for training to support police officer safety and wellness and to prevent violence against officers, despite the administration’s stated focus on “back[ing] the blue.” And despite stated concerns about opioids and mental health, DOJ cut more than $88 million for mental health and substance use treatment. The administration has made no secret of the political nature of these cuts, deeming Vera a “radical” organization in the president’s recent “skinny budget.”

Our suit is a class action in order to support the entire criminal justice field. If the lawsuit is successful, any remedy will benefit all 200+ organizations—not just the named plaintiffs, but every organization whose work with the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs was summarily terminated with a single line in a form letter.

Since January 20, this administration has repeatedly attacked independent, mission-driven organizations that are a fundamental part of civil society by either terminating funding or intimidating them with threats—or, as in our case last month, an inquiry from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOJ’s en masse cuts are just another example of the same destructive pattern.

To learn more about our lawsuit, check out Democracy Forward’s press release here.