The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), passed in 1994, established a federal commitment to supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault by funding critical services through grants administered by the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). For decades, state coalitions have relied on these grants to provide trauma-informed care, emergency housing, legal assistance, and more.
Under the Trump-Vance administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) imposed unlawful new conditions on VAWA grant recipients, requiring them to certify they are not supporting and will not support diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs, discuss “gender ideology,” or serve undocumented immigrants, even when those services are required by law or essential to survivor care.
These unlawful policy conditions force organizations to choose between losing critical funding or facing severe legal and financial risks under the False Claims Act.
Seventeen nonprofit state coalitions, represented by Democracy Forward, DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry & Revens, Ltd., Jacobson Lawyers Group PLLC, ACLU Foundation of RI, and National Women’s Law Center, filed suit to stop the DOJ’s overreach.
The filing argues that the new requirements are unconstitutional, violate the Administrative Procedure Act, and target the justice system, including the LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, and racial minorities.
Timeline
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Lawsuit was filed
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Motion for preliminary injunction filed
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The District Court of Rhode Island granted the preliminary injunction
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We filed an amended complaint adding new plaintiffs and challenging a new OJP condition requiring grantees to certify that they don’t do “illegal DEI.”
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We filed a motion for partial summary judgment.
