Judge temporarily reinstates ABA domestic violence grants, finding US likely retaliated for protected speech
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled for the ABA on Wednesday in its challenge to termination of federal domestic violence grants used to train and offer technical support to lawyers who help survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. (Photo by John O’Brien/ABA Journal)
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled for the ABA on Wednesday in its challenge to termination of federal domestic violence grants used to train and offer technical support to lawyers who help survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper of the District of Columbia said the ABA had shown a likelihood of success on its First Amendment retaliation claim and granted a preliminary injunction that bans termination of the grants.
Cooper said the government’s motives were revealed when U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued an April 9 memo restricting Department of Justice lawyers from participating in ABA events while on official time.
Blanche’s memo had cited two reasons for the ban: the ABA’s participation in a prior lawsuit against the government for freezing foreign-aid grants and its stands on issues that frequently depart from DOJ positions.
One day later, the DOJ canceled a series of grants to the ABA used to provide services to victims of domestic and sexual violence, citing a change in agency priorities.
“Connecting these two rather large dots, the ABA promptly filed suit,” Cooper wrote in Wednesday’s opinion.
Cooper said the ABA “has made a strong showing that defendants terminated its grants to retaliate against it for engaging in protected speech.”
“The government does not meaningfully contest the merits of the ABA’s First Amendment retaliation claim,” the judge wrote. “It points to no deficiencies in the ABA’s performance of its grant obligations. It concedes that similar grants administered by other organizations remain in place. It agrees that bringing a lawsuit is protected by the First Amendment. And it suggests no other cause for the cancellation apart from the sentiments expressed by Deputy Attorney General Blanche in his memorandum.”
Cooper added that the ABA does not seek reinstatement of grants that had ended or renewal of grants at the end of their terms. Nor does the court prevent termination of the grants “for permissible and truly nonretaliatory reasons,” he wrote.
The government had argued that the case should be heard by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims because it involves government contracts. But the ABA’s First Amendment right to be free of retaliation for protected activity is apart from the contracts at issue, and the matter may be decided by a federal district court, Cooper said.
The ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence has seven full-time employees to support the grant projects, including five staff members who are entirely or almost entirely funded by the grants, Cooper said. The ABA had $3.2 million in five active domestic violence grants at the time of termination.
The ABA said in its suit it could not reallocate funds for the domestic violence projects without putting other programs at risk. Overall, the ABA has lost nearly $69 million in federal grants, and federal agencies also chose not to renew federal contracts in which the ABA expected to receive funding. As a result, the ABA had to lay off more than 300 staff members and field officers across programs, the suit said.
Publications with news of the decision include Reuters, Law360, Politico and the Volokh Conspiracy.
The ABA is represented by Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal services organization, in the case, American Bar Association v. U.S. Department of Justice.
See also:
ABA responds to DOJ cuts to grants supporting domestic violence, sexual assault survivors
Foreign-aid pause likely unconstitutional, federal judge rules in ABA case
ABA President Bay denounces ‘chaotic’ attacks on the rule of law
‘Our Finest Hour’: ABA ‘will not shrink from the things we believe in,’ President Bill Bay says
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