Seattle – Today, King County presented oral arguments in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in downtown Seattle in Martin Luther King, Jr. County, et al., v. Scott Turner, et al., arguing that the anti-DEI, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion directives the Trump Administration has attached to funding appropriated by Congress are illegal and unconstitutional.
“No one is above the law, and the constitution in this case is crystal clear: spending power rests with Congress – not the President,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion. “We will keep fighting to uphold the constitution and protect the people of King County from illegal federal overreach.”
“The Trump administration is weaponizing federal funds to try to coerce cities and counties to compromise on their values and adopt the administration’s harmful political ideology,” said King County Executive Girmay Zahilay. “This is a clear abuse of presidential authority, and it jeopardizes vital funding for housing, health care, transit and other services that our local communities depend on. Here in King County, we are not caving to President Trump’s bullying tactics and unlawful threats and will continue to stand up to protect our people and values.”
The federal funds at stake in this litigation are resources awarded to King County by Congress and in which King County met all required conditions, but then the President attempted to revise the terms in order to advance federal directives such as forcing local police agencies to support federal civil immigration.
King County, which is lead plaintiff in this suit, is joined by over 70 other local government plaintiffs around the country including Boston, Chicago, New York City, Denver, San Fransisco, Multnomah County (Portland, OR), Hennepin County (Minneapolis), Columbus, Nashville, and Pittsburgh. The case challenges 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.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2025 and a temporary restraining order was granted. The court has issued three preliminary junctions in King County’s favor, blocking the federal government from enforcing the unlawful conditions on grants.
Because spending power rests with Congress, not the President, the legal efforts in the Turner case have been overwhelmingly successful in preserving grant dollars for crucial government services like roads, transit, affordable housing and public health. King County has been able to receive close to $165 million in grant dollars owed by the federal government thanks to the Turner case.
The 9th Circuit is expected to issue an opinion in this case in the coming months.