Justice Department ends bid to cancel ABA's domestic violence grants
A federal judge in Washington on Thursday administratively closed the ABA's lawsuit against the Justice Department, putting the case on hiatus for two years in response to a request from both sides. Either party could reopen the case 'if circumstances warrant,' the ABA and Justice Department said in a joint status report, opens new tab filed on Monday.
Thursday's order by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper clears the way for the ABA to receive the full amount of grants it had been awarded by the Justice Department to train lawyers to represent victims of domestic and sexual violence, which the department had canceled.
An ABA spokesperson declined to comment, and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. An attorney for the ABA, Skye Perryman of the nonprofit legal group Democracy Forward, said in a statement that the Justice Department had no basis to cancel the ABA's domestic violence grants.
'We are pleased to have defeated attempts to retaliate against our client for its exercise of its Constitutional rights–and to have restored this critical funding," Perryman said.
The ABA sued the Justice Department in April, claiming the agency illegally terminated federal grants in retaliation for the lawyer organization's public criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
The ABA, which has about 150,000 members and advocates for the legal profession, said in its lawsuit that the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi violated free speech protections under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by halting funding in retaliation for the ABA "taking positions the administration disfavors."
The Justice Department terminated the grants on April 10 — one day after U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sent a memo barring Justice Department attorneys from traveling to or speaking at ABA events, according to the complaint.
Blanche said the organization had engaged in "activist causes" contrary to the department's mission, according to the ABA's lawsuit.
The Justice Department asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that the court lacked authority to compel the federal government to pay money out under a contract.
Cooper on May 14 granted the ABA's request for a preliminary injunction to stop the government from terminating the grants as the case moved forward, writing, opens new tab that the ABA's 'First Amendment injury is concrete and ongoing.'
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American Bar Association sues US Justice Department, claiming retaliation over grants
Judge temporarily blocks canceling of ABA grants amid Trump crackdown
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