---

Press Release:

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong to Sue Trump Admin­is­tra­tion to Stop Dis­man­tling of Ameri­Corps

Preceding Event:

On Feb. 11, 2025, Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump, work­ing along­side the Depart­ment of Gov­ern­ment Effi­cien­cy, signed Exec­u­tive Order 14210, intend­ed to shrink the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment through “effi­cien­cy improve­ments” and ini­ti­at­ing “large-scale reduc­tions in force”. 85% of Ameri­Corps’ work­force was noti­fied they were being put on admin­is­tra­tive leave effec­tive on June 24, 2025. Accord­ing to the press release, “On April 25th, Con­necti­cut received notice from the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment of ter­mi­na­tion of its Ameri­Corps grant pro­grams which sup­port vol­un­teer and ser­vice effort.”

General Overview:

Accord­ing to the press release, “Ameri­Corps is an inde­pen­dent fed­er­al agency tasked with engag­ing Amer­i­cans in mean­ing­ful com­mu­ni­ty-based ser­vice that direct­ly address the country’s edu­ca­tion­al, pub­lic safe­ty, and envi­ron­men­tal needs — every year, the agency pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ties for more than 200,000 Amer­i­cans to serve their com­mu­ni­ties.”

The coali­tion bring­ing the suit argued that the Trump admin­is­tra­tion act­ed unlaw­ful­ly in vio­lat­ing the Admin­is­tra­tive Pro­ce­dures Act and the sep­a­ra­tion of pow­ers. Accord­ing to the release, “Con­gress has cre­at­ed Ameri­Corps and the pro­grams it admin­is­ters, and the Pres­i­dent can­not inca­pac­i­tate the agency’s abil­i­ty to admin­is­ter appro­pri­at­ed grants or car­ry out statu­to­ri­ly assigned duties,” the release said. “Fur­ther, by dis­man­tling Ameri­Corps and its pro­grams, which are crea­tures of Con­gress, The Trump Administration’s has vio­lat­ed the Exec­u­tive Branch’s oblig­a­tion to take care that the law is faith­ful­ly exe­cut­ed.”

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong joined a coali­tion of 22 oth­er states and Wash­ing­ton D.C. in fil­ing the suit.

Connecticut Nexus:

Accord­ing to the press release, “As of the 2024 pro­gram year, Ameri­Corps engaged 2,255 mem­bers and vol­un­teers across 253 ser­vice loca­tions through­out Con­necti­cut, con­tribut­ing to a total invest­ment of $12.4 mil­lion in the state. Local­ly, Ameri­Corps pro­grams secured over $2.9 mil­lion in exter­nal fund­ing from busi­ness­es, foun­da­tions, pub­lic agen­cies, and oth­er sources across Con­necti­cut. This local invest­ment ampli­fied com­mu­ni­ty impact and enhanced the val­ue of tax­pay­er con­tri­bu­tions.”

“Since 1994, more than 17,000 Con­necti­cut res­i­dents have served approx­i­mate­ly 25 mil­lion hours and earned edu­ca­tion awards total­ing more than $63.3 mil­lion. High­er edu­ca­tion insti­tu­tions and oth­er orga­ni­za­tions in Con­necti­cut have received more than $18.9 mil­lion in edu­ca­tion awards since 1994,” the press release said.

Date of filing:

April 29, 2025

Case #(‘s):

1:25-cv-01363

Case title:

State of Mary­land et al v. Cor­po­ra­tion for Nation­al and Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice et al

Plaintiffs: 23 states and D.C.

• MARYLAND,
• DELAWARE,
• CALIFORNIA,
• COLORADO,
• CONNECTICUT,
• ARIZONA,
• HAWAII,
• ILLINOIS,
• MASSACHUSETTS,
• MICHIGAN,
• MINNESOTA,
• NEVADA,
• NEW JERSEY,
• NEW MEXICO,
• NEW YORK,
• NORTH CAROLINA,
• OREGON,
• RHODE ISLAND,
• VERMONT,
• WASHINGTON,
• WISCONSIN,
• THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
• OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR ex rel. Andy Beshear, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Gov­er­nor of the Com­mon­wealth of Ken­tucky
• JOSH SHAPIRO, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Gov­er­nor of the Com­mon­wealth of Penn­syl­va­nia

Defendants:

• CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE, oper­at­ing as AMERICORPS,
• JENNIFER BASTRESS TAHMASEBI, in her offi­cial capac­i­ty as Inter­im Head of the Cor­po­ra­tion for Nation­al and Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice

Court:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

Related case #(‘s):

1:25-cv-01458-MJM

Status as of Dec. 1, 2025:

OPEN
Last fil­ing: Nov. 25, 2025

---