Judge Blocks Anti-DEI and Immigration Conditions on Federal Grants to California and Oregon Cities

On the evening of July 9, 2026, U.S. District Judge William Orrick granted a preliminary injunction barring the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Justice from imposing or enforcing new grant conditions against a coalition of California and Oregon local governments. The plaintiffs — including Fresno, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Santa Cruz and Stockton; San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties; and Beaverton, Corvallis and Hillsboro in Oregon — argued the agencies had conditioned congressionally appropriated funds on compliance with the administration's anti-diversity, equity and inclusion policies, cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and adherence to executive orders. The affected grants fund terrorism preparedness, hazard mitigation, flood assistance, forensic science, anti-human-trafficking work and crime victim services.

Orrick wrote that what the agencies "seek to do likely violates the Constitution and the Administrative Procedures Act," and that the conditions would irreparably injure the plaintiffs' ability to provide critical services. The dispute goes to whether the executive branch may attach new policy conditions to money Congress has already appropriated for specified purposes.

The order is preliminary and applies to the plaintiff municipalities while the case proceeds. It follows related injunctions issued by Judges Richard Seeborg and Orrick in earlier grant-conditions cases.