On October 23, 2025, Democracy Forward filed suit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to compel the release of public records about the Trump-Vance administration’s abrupt termination of more than $800 million in DOJ grants that supported programs on violence prevention, crime victim services, and community safety.
News reporting suggested that a staffer from the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) played a central role in identifying which grants would be terminated, bypassing the DOJ’s established review and management processes. Democracy Forward submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on May 9, 2025, seeking communications and records that could shed light on the extent of this political interference and its impact on public safety funding. Despite statutory deadlines, the agencies have failed to release the requested records.
The lawsuit asks the court to enforce the FOIA after the DOJ and FBI failed to produce the requested records about the politically driven decision to cancel more than 375 multi-year cooperative agreements and grants issued through the Office of Justice Programs (OJP).
The case is Democracy Forward Foundation v. Department of Justice et al.
On May 21, 2025, a coalition of five nonprofit and community organizations from several cities across the country, represented by Democracy Forward and Perry Law, sued to stop these unlawful grant terminations. The lawsuit argues that these cancellations threaten federal support for programs proven to keep communities across the United States safe. The case is ongoing in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Read more here.
Timeline
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We filed a FOIA request with the FBI seeking information on the abrupt cancellation of public safety grants.
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Due to noncompliance with the FOIA, we filed a lawsuit to compel the release of the requested information
