Attorney General Bonta Files Lawsuit Opposing Trump Administration’s Attempt to Unilaterally Impose Discriminatory Conditions on Grant Recipients

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, co-leading a multistate coalition, today filed a lawsuit challenging new conditions in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Grants Policy Statement and other grant documents that attempt to require HHS grant recipients to comply with President Trump’s executive order targeting transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that the new conditions (Gender Conditions) violate both the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act by exceeding HHS’s statutory authority, usurping Congress’s spending authority, failing to provide a reasoned explanation and follow procedural requirements, and threatening millions of dollars in vital public health funding.

“These changes to HHS’s grant policy are yet another effort by President Trump to unlawfully and maliciously target transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals,” said Attorney General Bonta. “HHS has overstepped its Constitutional authority and ignored proper procedures in an attempt to codify its hateful agenda. We are committed to defending transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming Americans from discrimination. We will continue to fight to protect all Americans’ abilities to thrive without facing unfair roadblocks.”

On his first day in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 14168, which directs federal agencies to “assess grant conditions and grantee preferences and ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology” and orders agencies to “take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.” On August 19, 2025, HHS issued a new Grants Policy Statement requiring that, effective October 1, 2025, all recipients of discretionary grants (except NIH grants) certify compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), including the directives of the Gender Ideology Executive Order. The Gender Conditions appear to dictate that by certifying compliance with Title IX, federal grant recipients must also certify compliance with the Gender Ideology Executive Order.

In today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition ask the district court to hold that HHS’s new conditions are unlawful and permanently enjoin HHS from enforcing the Gender Conditions. Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that:

• The Gender Conditions violate Congress’s authority to regulate any conditions placed on federal funding, retroactively altering the terms under which Congress approved HHS grant funding.
• HHS’s imposition of the Gender Conditions violates the Administrative Procedure Act by arbitrarily changing the agency’s interpretation of Title IX without going through required notice and comment rulemaking procedures. 
• HHS’s Gender Conditions attempt to unilaterally amend Title IX. This violates the Constitution’s separation of powers by seeking to override Congress’s legislative authority.
• HHS’s Gender Conditions would jeopardize federal funding already appropriated by Congress that states rely on to support health facilities, education programs, and research. 
• The Gender Conditions attempt to prevent states from enforcing their own laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity. 

Attorney General Bonta is committed to defending transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals from discrimination. On December 23, 2025, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit alongside a multistate coalition to challenge HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s declaration claiming gender-affirming care fails to meet professionally recognized standards of care and that HHS may disqualify from Medicare or Medicaid doctors or hospitals that provide such care. 

Attorney General Bonta and the attorneys general of New York and Oregon led today’s lawsuit and were joined by the attorneys general of Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.