Providence, R.I. – A judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island has ruled in favor of state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions and providers, successfully ending a lawsuit brought by the coalition that has blocked the administration’s unlawful conditions on federal funding for programs administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women and Office of Justice Programs.
The summary judgment order resolves Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, et al. v. Blanche — a case filed in June 2025 by state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions and providers. The case challenged DOJ’s efforts to target grantees that implement diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; serve immigrants; recognize and respect people regardless of gender identity; and acknowledge systemic causes of abuse, among other things.
The court first issued an order in the case in August 2025, blocking those unlawful restrictions, which would have made it impossible for many grantees to operate legally or effectively. DOJ then imposed additional conditions on grant funding administered by the Office of Justice Programs and the Office for Victims of Crime. Those new, unlawful, and potentially devastating additional conditions included restrictions that would have prevented providers from serving certain noncitizen survivors and others who couldn’t immediately prove their citizenship, prompting an amended complaint, which also earned intervention from the court. Today’s order invalidates the unlawful conditions that DOJ attempted to impose.
“We applaud the court’s permanent protection for survivors of domestic violence. People fleeing violent homes deserve immediate, lifesaving services and support,” said Susan Higginbotham, CEO of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “Federal funding should never be used to limit access to help for the most vulnerable in our population.”
The coalition behind the lawsuit includes the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence; Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault; District of Columbia Coalition Against Domestic Violence; End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence; Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Jane Doe Inc. (The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence); Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence; Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence; Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence; Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence; North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence; ValorUS; Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; Violence Free Minnesota; Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance; Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Plaintiffs are represented by Kristin Bateman and Robin Thurston with Democracy Forward, Lynn Eisenberg, Dan Jacobson, Nina Cahill, and Brian Rosen-Shaud with Jacobson Lawyers Group; Amy Romero for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island; Lynette Labinger for the ACLU of Rhode Island; and Lauren Khouri and Elizabeth Theran with the National Women’s Law Center.
Read the statement from Democracy Forward here.
Read today’s summary judgment order here.