HomeCrimeJudge blocks Trump admin's AmeriCorps cuts

Judge blocks Trump admin’s AmeriCorps cuts

President Donald Trump listens during a briefing with the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, at the White House in Washington (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin).

President Donald Trump listens during a briefing with the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, at the White House in Washington (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin).

A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restore funding to AmeriCorps volunteer service programs and reinstate workers who were booted without notice earlier this year, a little over a month after another judge halted plans to dismantle the government agency.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox referred to Baltimore-based U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman”s June 5 ruling throughout his 63-page order as he handed down a preliminary injunction blocking plans by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to defund and shut down AmeriCorps programs such as the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and the Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF).

AmeriCorps workers teamed up with Democracy Defenders Fund and other nonprofits to sue the Trump administration in May for the money cuts and firings issued in April. They had asked Maddox to bring back the employees who were laid off and return roughly $400 million in funding that got slashed, and Maddox — a Joe Biden appointee — obliged.

“They make a clear showing that this ‘dismantling’ consisted of several discrete agency actions: a categorical termination of all NCCC projects and participants … a sweeping cancellation of approximately $400,000,000 in AmeriCorps grants, including Nonprofit Plaintiffs’ grants and subgrants … a mass termination of more than 600 AmeriCorps employees, amounting to 85% of the staff, through placement on administrative leave on April 16, 2025, and issuance of RIF [reduction-in-force] notices on April 24, 2025,” Maddox said.

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“In short, Nonprofit Plaintiffs have been injured in their ability to operate and perform core activities, and these injuries are traceable directly to defendants’ actions — not decisions made by third parties,” Maddox concluded. “Nonprofit Plaintiffs’ injuries are traceable to defendants’ actions in terminating grants and subgrants, closing AmeriCorps programs, and placing AmeriCorps staff on leave.”

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