States sue over FEMA funding conditions

A coalition of 25 states and the United States — Washington, D.C., led by United States — Rhode Island, United States — California, United States — Illinois, and United States — New Jersey, filed a lawsuit in federal court in United States — Rhode Island on July 23, 2026, challenging the Trump administration's policy of conditioning FEMA disaster relief and homeland security grant funding on states adopting election administration changes and assisting with immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security announced on July 10 that it would withhold 20% of certain grant awards unless states transition to paper-ballot systems, conduct manual audits, reconcile voter rolls, and verify citizenship of registered voters. The states argue the conditions exceed federal authority, violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution's spending clause, and jeopardize public safety. The lawsuit is part of a broader pattern of legal challenges against the administration's use of funding conditions to enforce its priorities. Courts have previously blocked similar conditions on other FEMA and transportation funds.