SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge appeared likely to grant the temporary restraining order San Francisco Unified School District seeks against a Trump administration government agency — though he did not immediately issue a ruling during a hearing Friday afternoon.
The school district claimed that Americorps, a federal agency that oversees grants and funding for vulnerable populations, threatened to withhold federal funding to schools because President Donald Trump declared that the schools in the district support diversity, equity and inclusion.
Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, a Barack Obama appointee, said he believes the court has jurisdiction to hear the case.
“Congress intended specifically that review of federal grants for granted aid programs be something that is reviewable,” Chen said, before adding that he believes the balance of hardships favors the plaintiffs.
According to the school district said in their complaint filed in March, Americorps issued a directive on Feb. 13 to the school district to stop all grant activities that “promote DEI” and get in line with Trump’s positions on DEI and climate change or have their funding taken away.
“Specifically, AmeriCorps gave recipients, including plaintiffs, just a few days to either ‘immediately’; cease any activities that promote DEI, promote ‘gender ideology,’ or address climate change or other environmental issues — without explaining what activities would be ‘noncompliant’ — and agree to amended grant terms, or lose their AmeriCorps grants entirely,” the school district said in its complaint.
At Friday’s hearing, the plaintiffs’ attorney Molly Alarcon said the directive from Americorps was ambiguous and that there is a fear that the school district could lose its funds and have to cut its “Rainbow” programs or other programs that support LGBTQ students.
“There is abundant, irreparable harm including this threat of having to sign a new grant agreement under duress,” Alarcon said. “We submitted evidence that people aren’t sure if they can have conversations with students if they touch on issues of race or gender, and that is impeding SFUSD to complete its mission.”
Alarcon said the directive to withhold funding violates the spending clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act and said that the government was attempting to coerce the school district to adopt the same policies as the Trump administration.
Sapna Mehta of the U.S. Attorney’s Office called Alarcon’s argument speculative, and there was no proof or suggestion that funds would be cut if the school district continued with its programs.
“They’re not reassuring us that our grants will not be terminated,” Alarcon replied.
Chen asked Mehta what the harm the government would suffer if the temporary restraining order was granted.
Mehta replied that it was an organizational burden to revert the amendments, and continuing to move back and forth over what is governing the use of funds at a particular time while the case is being litigated was a hardship to the government.
Mehta also said that the school district had not given a concrete example of irreparable harm.
“There’s been no allegation in the brief or the declarations that a student group was not able to meet because of this grant amendment or because of these conditions of the mentorship. Similarly, they have not said they couldn’t provide the student services,” Mehta said.
At the end of the hearing, Chen said he was leaning towards granting the temporary restraining order.
“On the balance of hardships, I haven’t heard much on the side of the defendant in terms of any burden stemming from an injunction,” he said.
The school district receives nearly $700,000 from Americorps annually that is used primarily to tutor vulnerable students at 38 public schools in the district. When the lawsuit was filed, school district Superintendent Maria Su said the money from Americorps was integral to supporting vital programs and preserving resources for the district, as the school district is already planning to lay off teachers to address a $113 million deficit.
The school is being represented in court pro bono by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu’s office, which blasted Americorps’ attempt to withhold the funding when the suit was filed.
“President Trump cannot hold our kids and seniors hostage to force people to agree with him,” Chiu said then.
The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, joined the San Francisco Unified School District in the lawsuit and said it would need to eliminate programs for seniors and children if Americorps funding is taken away.