Body of News Release
Marin County, CA – The County of Marin has joined a coalition of cities and counties from across the nation in a lawsuit against the Federal Administration to prevent the enforcement of unlawful conditions on critical federal grants.
The lawsuit challenges recent Executive Orders that attempt to attach sweeping new policy requirements to grants administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The grants finance affordable housing, social services, public safety, reliable transit, and essential airport and highway infrastructure — programs that sustain local economies and directly improve quality of life for residents.
The coalition of plaintiffs now includes the County of Marin, the County of San Diego, the City of Alameda, and the City of Redwood City. Those jurisdictions joined the original lawsuit filed on August 20, 2025, by the City of Fresno, the City of Eureka, the City of South Lake Tahoe, the County of Sacramento, the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Monroe County and the Monroe County Airport Authority in New York.
On August 26, Judge Richard Seeborg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted a temporary restraining order, preventing enforcement of the contested grant conditions. Despite this ruling, local governments — including Marin — have continued to receive communications from the Federal Administration indicating an intent to impose the same unlawful requirements.
Marin and its fellow new plaintiffs formally joined the lawsuit this week and filed a motion for preliminary injunction to extend the protections of the restraining order to all plaintiffs.
“Plaintiffs have been forced to bring this case not out of preference but out of necessity,” the lawsuit states. “These unlawful conditions place local governments in an impossible position: either abandon airport, housing, transportation, and public safety programs — or risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.”
For decades, cities and counties have relied on congressionally authorized HUD, DOT, and HHS programs to deliver essential services. Many local governments have already spent funds on the promise of reimbursement, but with the Federal Administration’s sudden rule changes, it is unclear whether that promise will be honored.
The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to preserve federal funding streams established by Congress and to ensure that their residents continue to receive the housing, safety, and infrastructure support they depend upon.