DOJ will no longer terminate ABA's domestic violence training grants
The U.S. Department of Justice has decided to end its bid to cancel the ABA’s grants that support domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. (Photo by John O’Brien/ABA Journal)
The U.S. Department of Justice has decided to end its bid to cancel the ABA’s grants that support domestic violence and sexual assault survivors.
The DOJ terminated the grants—which help train and offer technical assistance to lawyers who support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault—in April. The ABA filed a federal lawsuit challenging the DOJ’s actions later that month. And in May, a federal judge granted the association’s request for a preliminary injunction.
The DOJ declined to appeal the May ruling, and in response to requests from the ABA and the DOJ, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper of the District of Columbia administratively closed the case on Thursday, Reuters reports. The case will remain on hiatus for two years unless either side decides to reopen it.
The ABA will receive $3.2 million in domestic violence training grants through 2027, Reuters also reports.
“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,” said Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal group that represents the ABA, in a statement provided to Reuters.
The DOJ did not immediately return the ABA Journal’s request for comment.
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