It is the latest court ruling staving off deep cuts to social services that Democratic-led states say are politically motivated and would harm hundreds of thousands of people.
A federal judge in Illinois on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s plan to claw back $600 million in public health funds from four states led by Democrats, amid a wider effort by the federal government to pull funding from blue states.
Judge Manish S. Shah of the Federal District Court in Northern Illinois wrote in a two-page order that the plaintiff states — California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota — had provided enough evidence that the cuts were “based on arbitrary, capricious or unconstitutional rationales” to halt what would have been deep cuts in federal public health funding that had already been allocated while legal arguments continue in the case.
It is the latest court ruling staving off deep federal cuts to Democratic-led states, which say they are politically motivated.
The New York Times
By Chris Cameron
Feb. 12, 2026