The Nonprofit Organizations Going to Court to Block Trump

Ever since the Trump administration began “flooding the zone” with a barrage of funding cuts and executive orders, a segment of funders has opted to wait and see how the myriad lawsuits played out in the courts. If rescinded funding was reinstated, the thinking went, there might not be a need to drum up emergency support for affected grantees.

Five months into President Donald Trump’s second term, there have been some favorable court decisions. Beyond partially or temporarily restraining the administration’s efforts to impose tariffs and deny deportees due process, the courts have also temporarily halted cuts that have profound philanthropic implications, such as blocking the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from cutting $11 billion in public health funding.

Of course, this is cold comfort to hundreds of nonprofits, including universities and medical centers, that have already lost substantial federal funding. Even if some federal grants magically reappear in the coming months — and my reporting suggests nonprofit leaders aren’t planning on it — the damage has already been done.

But philanthropy hasn’t been completely on the sidelines. As my colleague Martha Ramirez noted, funders like the Robert Wood Johnson, Susan Thompson Buffett and Packard foundations have been supporting nonprofits taking the administration to court over its immigration policies. The New York Times’ tracker of anti-Trump lawsuits illustrates a similar dynamic in other areas, thanks to a galaxy of nonprofit litigants taking the administration to court over policies and funding cuts in philanthropy-adjacent fields like like education, civic engagement and medical research. Many of these foundations may not be publicly speaking out against the administration, but by supporting organizations bringing lawsuits, they’re casting their lot with a judicial branch that, given an obsequious Republican Congress, is the only remaining and viable federal bulwark against unrestrained executive power.

I combed through the cases with an eye toward ones brought by nonprofit organizations that speak to funder priorities such as preserving birthright citizenship and ensuring Americans can vote, as well as efforts to pause cuts to nongovernmental organizations. The following list of litigants and plaintiffs does not include the numerous lawsuits brought by federal unions, private citizens, cities and states. For example, the suit that asked the courts to block HHS funding cuts was brought by a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia.

As the postponement of HHS funding suggests, lawsuits brought by states and those funded by philanthropy are paying dividends — as of June 9, the New York Times reported, at least 180 court rulings “have at least temporarily paused some of the administration’s initiatives.” 

Our hope is that as philanthropy looks for ways to slow the pace of MAGA’s damage over the coming months and years, the information below provides funders with a useful look at some of the nonprofit organizations that have taken the fight to the president across five issue areas.

Civic engagement

Lawsuits against the administration in the civic engagement space can be broken up into two buckets: voting rights, which is a huge priority for democracy funders, and restoring canceled federal funding. 

In the former bucket, Campaign Legal Center and State Democracy Defenders Fund, on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and other groups, sued the president over Executive Order 14248, which, among other things, orders the Election Assistance Commission to require in its national mail voter registration form documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. 

“State law permitting,” the brief reads, “LULAC encourages absentee or mail-in voting, as many of their members have difficulty voting in person because they are elderly, live in rural areas, and/or do not own cars,” and contends that the executive order, which also restricts absentee voting, could disenfranchise these individuals.

As is the case in practically every issue area I came across, nonprofits in the civic engagement space are suing the administration to claw back funding legally appropriated to them by Congress. 

Litigants include the Open Technology Fund, which is committed to advancing global internet freedom and challenged the termination of congressionally appropriated grant funding, and, in a separate case, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions. NED’s lawsuit claimed the government wrongfully denied it access to $167 million in already-obligated funds and refused to release an additional $72 million already appropriated by Congress.

Environment

Like groups in the civic engagement space, environmental nonprofits have pushed back against the president’s executive orders that take direct aim at funders’ priorities — in this case, the protection of sensitive wildlife areas and the development of green energy projects. 

The Natural Resources Defense Council has filed multiple lawsuits against the administration. Along with Earthjustice and the Sierra Club, it represented a coalition of plaintiffs, including Greenpeace, Northern Alaska Environmental Center and Surfrider Foundation, challenging Trump’s Executive Order 14148, which opened up areas for oil and gas development that had been protected under the Biden administration.

Groups have also filed lawsuits alleging the administration has illegally withheld Congressionally approved funding. A subset of suits target frozen funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act. These suits have profound philanthropic consequences since funders have allocated substantial resources to ensure IRA dollars flow to organizations on the ground. 

A case brought by Earthjustice represents farms and three nonprofits — Faith in Place, GreenLatinos and Cultivate KC — whose United States Department of Agriculture grants, funded by the IRA, were withheld by the administration. The National Council of Nonprofits, Green Infrastructure Center and other groups filed a lawsuit challenging the administration’s freeze on funding from the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “Freezing these funds will harm many and benefit no one,” said NCN President and CEO Diane Yentel in a statement. “NCN will continue standing up for the vital work of nonprofit organizations, and for the people and communities they serve.” 

Similar lawsuits involving rescinded IRA funding have been filed by the Sustainability Institute and Climate United Fund. (For further reading, check out my colleague Michael Kavate’s deep dive into how philanthropy is helping climate groups claw back federal dollars.)

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group, represented by Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, sued the USDA for, among other things, removing department webpages mentioning climate change.

Education

Organizations have sued the administration over the Department of Education’s February “Dear Colleague Letter,” which threatened federal funding cuts for educational institutions for engaging in diversity, equity and inclusion practices. These are important lawsuits given that philanthropy is grappling with how to support DEI efforts in a hostile political environment.

A coalition of organizations, including the National Education Association and the ACLU, filed a lawsuit against the department, arguing that the “Dear Colleague Letter” imposed “unfounded and vague legal restrictions that violate due process and the First Amendment.” Similarly, the NAACP and the Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education, claiming that the letter and other department documents include “factual inaccuracies and misinterpretations of civil rights laws and threaten the termination of critical public education funds.”

Organizations are also suing the administration to restore funding cuts. A lawsuit filed by Public Citizen on behalf of the Association for Education Finance and Policy challenged the Department of Education’s efforts to dismantle the Institute of Education Services, which Congress established in 2002 and, according to Public Citizen, “has served as the backbone of education research in the United States for decades.” 

The American Association of University Professors and its Harvard chapter filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from demanding that Harvard implement policy changes and restructure its core operations to prevent the cancellation of $8.7 billion in federal funding. Other organizations in the education space that have sued the administration to restore terminated contracts and grants include the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the Association of American Universities and Child Trends, a nonprofit research center based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Immigration

Immigration lawsuits seek to restore cut federal funding and challenge a variety of Trump administration policies that have horrified immigration funders, like seeking to end birthright citizenship and deporting individuals without due process or legal assistance.

Organizations belonging to the former category include Catholic Charities Fort Worth, which sued the HHS, alleging that it unlawfully withheld federal funds earmarked for resettling refugees; and Solutions in Hometown Connections, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and other organizations that challenged the freeze of federal grant funding to nonprofit organizations providing immigration-related services.

Organizations have also filed lawsuits challenging the administration’s changes to Temporary Protected Status (TPS), government protection granted to eligible, foreign-born individuals who are unable to return home safely due to war, natural disasters or another emergency. TPS has been championed by the Abundant Futures Fund, a donor collaboration that was launched in 2022 by the Ford and JPB foundations, and Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective. 

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law and other groups, on behalf of the National TPS Alliance and seven Venezuelan TPS holders, sued the Department of Homeland Security over Secretary Kristi Noem’s decisions to terminate TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians. In addition, lawyers representing the national immigrant advocacy organization CASA and Make the Road New York filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security challenging the termination of Venezuela’s designation as a TPS.

Similar lawsuits have been filed by Haitian-Americans United and the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, as well as the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association.

Organizations have also sued to block the president’s efforts to end birthright citizenship. Cases have been filed by CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project; the Northwest Immigration Rights Project; and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of an expectant mother and the New York Immigration Coalition.  

A lawsuit filed by the American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Law Center and others, on behalf of plaintiffs including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and United Farm Workers of America, challenged the administration’s March 2025 rule requiring millions of noncitizens to register with the federal government and carry proof of registration at all times.

There has also been a spate of lawsuits brought by nonprofits challenging the Trump administration’s practice of deporting individuals without due process, failing to provide detained individuals with sufficient legal assistance, and arresting, detaining and deporting noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian activism.

Public health

Organizations in the public health sphere have challenged the administration’s abrupt funding cuts, which have also forced funders to consider whether they should fill the gaps. 

The American Public Health Association was named as the plaintiff in two key lawsuits against the administration. In the first, which was represented by Democracy Forward, it was joined by the National Council of Nonprofits, Main Street Alliance and SAGE, which advocates for LGBTQ+ older people, in filing a restraining order to block the White House Office of Management and Budget from pausing agency grants and loans. 

In April, the American Public Health Association was the plaintiff in a SAGE lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health, challenging the cancellation of NIH-funded research projects and the halting of grant application processes. Other plaintiffs in the case included IBIS Reproductive Health and UAW (International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers), who were represented by the ACLU and Protect Democracy.

In another case with public health ramifications, the Legal Defense Fund and the nonprofit Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, challenging three executive orders related to DEI, accessibility and transgender people. 

Plaintiffs argued that by terminating equity-related grants and prohibiting federally funded entities from administering DEI programs, the administration’s actions would “severely limit” organizations’ ability to provide critical social and health services such as HIV treatment, fair housing and equal employment opportunities.

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