Callie Craighead, Office of the Executive 

Douglas Wagoner, King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office 

Seattle – Today, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of King County and over 70 local governments in the King County v. Turner case, barring the Trump administration from requiring local governments to adopt harmful anti-DEI, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-abortion policies in order to receive federal grants.  

This ruling marks a major legal victory against the Trump administration. King County led this effort to protect access to federal funding for crucial government services like roads, transit, affordable housing, and public health. To date, King County has received or expects to receive $364 million in federal funding through grant awards because of the injunction. 

“Today’s ruling makes it clear that President Trump cannot rewrite the rules and use federal funding as a political weapon to force jurisdictions to adopt his harmful ideologies,” said King County Executive Girmay Zahilay. “This is a major victory for King County and local governments across the county, protecting billions of dollars of funding for transportation, housing, health care, and other essential services that our communities rely on. This fight is not over, but we will remain steadfast in defending the rights of our residents and protecting the local values that make King County the diverse, welcoming, and thriving region that it is.” 

“Today’s win is our latest against the Trump Administration, which has tried – and failed – to force King County to comply with their ideology as a requirement for receiving funding from Congress,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion. “This decision reaffirms the basic principle that President Trump cannot misuse Congressionally-authorized resources in order to reshape the government in his image. With hundreds of millions in resources for our roads, transit, and affordable housing at stake, we will keep fighting back in court on behalf of the people of King County.” 

“The Ninth Circuit’s decision is significant not only because it reinforces the rule of law as a critical safeguard for local governments confronting the Trump Administration’s overreach, but also because of the tangible impact it will have on King County, other Washington communities, and local governments across the nation that joined this coalition,” said Pacifica Law Group Partner Paul Lawrence, who argued on behalf of the coalition during the Ninth Circuit’s February hearing. “We are proud to support King County in standing up for its residents, ourselves included.” 

King County, the lead plaintiff in this suit, was joined by over 70 other local government plaintiffs around the country including Boston, Chicago, New York City, Denver, San Francisco, Multnomah County (Portland, OR), Hennepin County (Minneapolis), Columbus, Nashville, and Pittsburgh.  

Filed in May 2025, the case challenged the efforts of the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to incorporate various grant conditions from Trump Administration Executive Orders.   

Specifically, King County and the local government plaintiffs argued that the conditions the Administration sought to impose violated the Constitution’s Separation of Powers doctrine, violated the Administrative Procedure Act which governs how federal agencies make rules applicable to grants, and exceeded the authority Congress gave to the federal agencies to administer grant programs and distribute funds. 

Last year, a federal district court issued three preliminary junctions in King County’s favor, blocking the Administration from enforcing the unlawful conditions on grants. Today, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the injunctions. 

On behalf of King County, this case was led by Leesa Manion, David Hackett, Alison Holcomb, Donna Bond, Erin Overbey, Cristy Craig, Graham Provost, Paul Lawrence, Jamie Lisagor, Meha Goyal, Sarah Washburn, and others.