SEATTLE — Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown on Tuesday joined a multistate lawsuit challenging an executive order by President Donald J Trump that terminated AmeriCorps grants and reduced the agency’s workforce by 85 percent. The order effectively ended the program that provides opportunities to more than 200,000 Americans to serve their communities, the Attorney General’s Office alleges. The coalition includes 23 attorneys general and the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
“The Administration’s abrupt decision to dismantle AmeriCorps flouts Congress’s creation of AmeriCorps and assignment of agency duties; usurps Congress’s power of the purse and thereby violates the Constitution’s separation of powers; and arbitrarily and capriciously— without any reasoned analysis—vitiates the agency’s ability to function consistent with its statutory mission and purpose…. The Administration is free to ask Congress to abolish AmeriCorps, but it cannot simply terminate the agency’s functions by fiat or defund the agency in defiance of administrative procedures,” the lawsuit alleges.
AmeriCorps is an independent federal agency tasked with engaging Americans in meaningful public service that directly addresses educational, public safety, and environmental needs in local communities. AmeriCorps members and volunteers connect veterans to essential services, fight the opioid epidemic, help older adults age with dignity, rebuild communities after disasters, and improve the physical and mental well-being of millions of Americans.
“AmeriCorps provides hope and belonging in American communities nationwide. It gives inspiration and purpose to the young people who join its ranks annually,” Brown said. “But the president thinks public programs and public dollars are his to do with what he will, snatching them up through the same scheming that federal courts have already said is likely illegal.”
In early February, the Trump Administration issued an executive order directing every federal agency to plan to reduce the size of its workforce and prepare to initiate in large-scale reductions in force. Since then, AmeriCorps has placed at least 85% of its workforce on administrative leave and notified employees that they would be terminated by June 24.
On April 25, the federal government notified Washington state that it terminated its AmeriCorps grant programs, which support volunteer and service efforts.
In the complaint, Attorney General Brown and the multistate coalition argue that by abruptly canceling critical grants and gutting AmeriCorps’ workforce, the Trump Administration is effectively shuttering the national volunteer agency and ending the states’ abilities to support AmeriCorps programs.
The coalition asserts that the Trump Administration acted illegally in its gutting of AmeriCorps, violating both the Administrative Procedures Act and the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution. Congress created AmeriCorps and the programs it administers, and the President cannot incapacitate the agency’s ability to administer appropriated grants or carry out statutorily assigned duties. Further, by dismantling AmeriCorps and its programs, which are creatures of Congress, the Trump Administration has violated the Executive Branch’s obligation to take care that the law is faithfully executed.
In joining today’s lawsuit Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of Maryland, Delaware, California, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
Source: Office of Washington State Attorney General with some additions by the Lynnwood Times.
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
