Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s plan to slash over $600 million in public health grants for initiatives out of step with Trump administration priorities has spurred a lawsuit from states who call the cuts “devastating.”
Filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota, the lawsuit comes days after reports surfaced that the US Department of Health and Human Services was expected to cut millions in public health grants to the states.
The states argue in their complaint that the Trump administration is unfairly and illegally targeting them, “based on political animus and disagreements about unrelated topics such as federal immigration enforcement, political protest, and clean energy.”
In suing the administration, the states target a February Office of Management and Budget directive to cut the states’ funding.
They claim the move is unconstitutional, punishing the states “based on their sovereign choices about how to allocate their own limited law enforcement resources” while attempting “to coerce them into adopting the current presidential administration’s preferred policies by cutting off critical funding.”
According to the lawsuit, the HHS on Monday told Congress of its plans to cut funding in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants to the states. That move, the lawsuit alleges, is among “numerous attempts to strip funds from programs in States whose policies it disagrees with.”
“In particular, throughout January of this year, the President repeatedly threatened to stop all federal payments to what he calls ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions,” the states argued.
Across the country, public health has faced grant cancellations, reversals, and layoffs after Kennedy took over the HHS.
A press release from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office said that funding could be cut as soon as tomorrow.
The states noted in their lawsuit that the largest program targeted for termination is a Biden-era effort called the Public Health Infrastructure Grant. Since 2022, the program has operated in every state, funding things such as the workforce and data modernization.
A statement from Big Cities Health Coalition member jurisdictions said canceling funding “makes it harder for our departments to prepare for and respond to natural disasters; prevent and manage disease outbreaks like measles; address HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; and reduce the burden of chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.”
“All of these rescinded CDC funds were approved by Congress, and reiterated by additional appropriations passed and signed into law just last week, which reflects continued bipartisan support for critical public health programs and the workforce that carries them out,” the members said.
The case is Illinois v. Vought, N.D. Ill., No. 1:26-cv-01566, complaint filed 2/11/26.
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