Judge scolds Trump admin for using AI to generate after-the-fact excuse for targeting sanctuary'states with massive cuts

Source: Law & Crime

Mar 13th, 2026, 1:59 pm


A federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration from depriving four states of some $600 million in public health grants in a strongly worded order that heaped scorn on the government's "contrived" explanation for the now-enjoined defunding plan.

In the underlying case, Illinois leads a coalition of plaintiffs – which also includes California, Colorado, and Minnesota – against a recent effort to defund "disfavored" states "whose policies it disagrees with," according to the 26-page lawsuit filed in early February.

The day after the litigation began, a hearing was quickly set and held. Later that same day, U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah, a Barack Obama appointee, issued a temporary restraining order finding the cuts "likely unlawful" and accusing the defendants of "using funding to execute a policy objective unrelated" to the grants themselves.

On March 6, the plaintiff states filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, an effort to maintain the status quo — and keep federal funds flowing — throughout the litigation at the district court level. Now, in no uncertain terms, the judge has ruled in the plaintiffs' favor again, saying the Trump administration's defunding scheme had nothing to do with public health and everything to do with exacting a price for the four states' response to federal immigration policies.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/appears-contrived-judge-scolds-trump-admin-for-using-ai-to-generate-after-the-fact-excuse-for-targeting-sanctuary-states-with-massive-cuts-to-public-health-funding/