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Press Release:

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong Sues to Stop Trump Admin­is­tra­tion Attack on Libraries

Preceding Event:

Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump signed Exec­u­tive Order 14238, also known as the “clo­sure order”, to reduce and dis­man­tle sev­en fed­er­al agen­cies on March 14, 2025. It directs the Insti­tute of Muse­um and Library Ser­vices, the Minor­i­ty Busi­ness Devel­op­ment Agency, the Fed­er­al Medi­a­tion and Con­cil­i­a­tion Ser­vice and four oth­er agen­cies to elim­i­nate all of their pro­grams and com­po­nents not man­dat­ed by statute and to reduce their statu­to­ri­ly man­dat­ed func­tions and asso­ci­at­ed staff to the min­i­mum required by law.

General Overview:

On April 4, 2025, Con­necti­cut Attor­ney Gen­er­al William Tong joined a coali­tion of 20 oth­er states in suing to fight the clo­sure order. The law­suit alleged that “all of the agen­cies sub­ject to the Clo­sure Order were estab­lished by Con­gress and giv­en a detailed set of statu­to­ry duties. In their spree to gut these agen­cies, Defen­dants have elim­i­nat­ed many of the pro­grams that the agen­cies are statu­to­ri­ly required to car­ry out.”

The suit argued that Pres­i­dent Trump is exceed­ing his pow­er as only Con­gress can cut these agen­cies.

Connecticut Nexus:

Accord­ing to the press release, “The Con­necti­cut State Library receives $2.2 mil­lion in annu­al fund­ing from IMLS, sup­port­ing the salaries of 13 Con­necti­cut work­ers and pro­grams across Con­necti­cut pro­vid­ing sup­port for ear­ly lit­er­a­cy and sum­mer read­ing, sup­port for vet­er­ans and mil­i­tary fam­i­lies, access to eBooks and audio­books, among oth­er pro­grams.

Fed­er­al fund­ing sup­port­ed 8,827 sum­mer read­ing pro­grams across Con­necti­cut used by 229,470 chil­dren and teens last year alone. Loss of fed­er­al fund­ing could have an imme­di­ate impact on sum­mer read­ing pro­grams for 2025. More than 5,500 Con­necti­cut patrons rely on fed­er­al­ly-fund­ed acces­si­ble audio and braille books, includ­ing 316 vet­er­ans. Fed­er­al fund­ing enables free access to more than 50,000 eBooks for all Con­necti­cut res­i­dents.”

Date of filing:

April 4, 2025

Case #:

1:25-cv-00128

Case title:

State of Rhode Island, et al. v. Trump et al

Plaintiffs: 21 states

• STATE OF RHODE ISLAND;
• STATE OF NEW YORK;
• STATE OF HAWAI‘I;
• STATE OF ARIZONA;
• STATE OF CALIFORNIA;
• STATE OF COLORADO;
• STATE OF CONNECTICUT;
• STATE OF DELAWARE;
• STATE OF ILLINOIS;
• STATE OF MAINE;
• STATE OF MARYLAND;
• COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS;
• PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN;
• STATE OF MINNESOTA;
• STATE OF NEVADA;
• STATE OF NEW JERSEY;
• STATE OF NEW MEXICO;
• STATE OF OREGON;
• STATE OF VERMONT;
• STATE OF WASHINGTON;
• STATE OF WISCONSIN

Defendants:

• DONALD J. TRUMP, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States;
• INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES;
• KEITH E. SONDERLING, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Act­ing Direc­tor of the Insti­tute of Muse­um and Library Ser­vices;
• MINORITY BUSINESS AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY;
• MADIHA D. LATIF, in her offi­cial capac­i­ty as Deputy Under Sec­re­tary of Com­merce for Minor­i­ty Busi­ness Devel­op­ment;
• HOWARD LUTNICK, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Com­merce;
• FEDERAL MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION SERVICE;
• GREGORY GOLDSTEIN, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Act­ing Direc­tor of the Fed­er­al Medi­a­tion and Con­cil­i­a­tion Ser­vice;
• U.S. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET;
• RUSSELL T. VOUGHT, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Direc­tor of the Office of Man­age­ment and Bud­get

Court:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

Status as of Dec 1, 2025:

CLOSED — Ter­mi­nat­ed on Nov. 21, 2025
Judg­ment in favor of plain­tiffs

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