Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration Anti-DEI Grant Conditions Affecting Fresno

U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued a preliminary injunction Thursday evening halting the Trump administration from enforcing new grant conditions tied to anti-diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The order blocks the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice from imposing the challenged conditions on cities including Fresno.

Fresno joined California cities Santa Clara, Redwood City, Santa Cruz and Stockton; counties including San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara; and three Oregon cities in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs argued the agencies unlawfully conditioned congressionally appropriated funds on compliance with President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies, cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and adherence to executive orders related to grants.

“What defendants seek to do likely violates the Constitution and the Administrative Procedures Act,” wrote Orrick, a Barack Obama appointee. “The result of their imposition of the challenged conditions would irreparably injure plaintiffs and their ability to provide critical services, as well as would threaten public safety.”

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The challenged conditions could have defunded programs for terrorism preparedness, hazard mitigation, flood assistance, forensic science programs, anti-human trafficking initiatives and crime victim services.

Fresno and other entities filed an earlier lawsuit in August 2025 against the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency over similar grant conditions. Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, also a Barack Obama appointee, granted a preliminary injunction in that case and extended it in August 2026 to cover additional localities.

In November, Orrick separately blocked the Department of Homeland Security from withholding disaster preparedness grants from local governments refusing to adhere to federal anti-DEI policies and conditions requiring compliance with unspecified grant-related executive orders.

The Breakdown

• The new grant conditions would have required cities and counties to comply with Trump administration policies on DEI, immigration enforcement, and other executive orders to receive federal funding
• Judge Orrick found the agencies likely violated the Constitution and the Administrative Procedures Act by imposing these conditions
• The injunction applies to federal grants for public safety, public health, and environmental programs administered by DHS, FEMA, Interior, and DOJ
• Fresno has been involved in two separate lawsuits challenging these grant conditions — one filed in August 2025 against HUD, HHS, Transportation and the EPA, and the current case decided Thursday

What This Means for You

Federal agencies under the Trump administration attempted to use grant funding as leverage to force compliance with presidential policy preferences Congress never authorized when it appropriated the money. The injunction means Fresno can continue receiving federal dollars for programs like flood assistance, crime victim services, and hazard mitigation. This matters for how you assess the current administration’s use of executive power — whether federal agencies can unilaterally rewrite the terms of congressionally approved funding based on a president’s policy agenda, or whether Congress’s funding decisions carry weight that survives changes in the White House.

What to Watch

Judge Orrick wrote that “the general public” has an interest “in seeing that regulations passed by Congress are properly implemented; should relief not be granted, many grant programs will be contradicted or impermissibly overridden by the president’s executive orders.” That framing — whether executive orders can override congressional appropriations — is the core legal question. If cities face a choice, Orrick’s ruling describes it as irreparable harm: accept federal policy mandates Congress never voted for, or lose funding their federal tax dollars already paid for.