The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed a lawsuit on behalf of 17 state domestic violence and sexual assault organizations on Monday, arguing that restrictions the Trump administration has placed on grants are illegal and conflict with requirements laid out in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) released updated grant guidelines on May 7 that said organizations applying for funding must certify that they are not promoting “gender ideology” or “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The new guidance also says they can’t prioritize services to “illegal aliens” over citizens. 

But, the lawsuit argues, these new rules conflict with the anti-discrimination statute grantees are bound by. OVW also administers several grants that are specific to under-served communities, which includes those impacted by disability, race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994, creating new funding to prevent domestic and intimate partner violence and help survivors. The funding has been reauthorized multiple times since, most recently in 2022, and is critical to domestic violence and sexual assaults services and prevention organizations. Without access to OVW grant programs, services nationwide stand to be substantially hobbled, resulting in more violence and death.

Four out of every 10 women say they’ve experienced violence at the hands of an intimate partner, according to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than half of all women homicide victims are killed by a current or former partner, according to a CDC study. 

“The president lied in his promise to protect women, and is now threatening to block funding for our clients who actually protect women every day,” said Gaylynn Burroughs, vice president of education and workplace justice at NWLC, one of five organizations in the plaintiff coalition. “Holding back their funding in the name of a racist, xenophobic, transphobic agenda is unacceptable and we will fight for our clients to secure the funding they deserve, that keeps women, their families, and our communities safe.”

The federal grants that fund the network of domestic violence and sexual assault prevention programs across the country have been hit hard by the Trump administration. The administration fired nearly every member of the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, effectively ending the only federal-level team working on intimate partner violence prevention. First created in 2002, DELTA, or Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances, funds 13 state-based domestic violence prevention and support services networks. 

Additionally, many state coalition partners worried that their funding was threatened by the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in the first days of his second term on gender and “illegal” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Many scrubbed their websites, erasing language on gender identity, sexuality, race, ethnicity or immigration.

The administration doubled down on the orders with the restrictions in the OVW grants, the focus of the lawsuit filed Monday. 

The lawsuit points to the rules created by Congress under VAWA and says the guidelines run afoul of the legislative branch’s constitutional powers. 

“When the Executive Branch asks us to ignore the directives of Congress, we have no choice but to act,” Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence CEO Susan Higginbotham said in a statement. Under the new executive orders, Higginbotham said, state domestic violence coalitions are forced to make the decision on which survivors are worthy of assistance.

“That’s unacceptable,” Higginbotham said. “Everyone fleeing domestic violence deserves help, dignity, and respect.” 

Included in the lawsuit are domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions in California; Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Idaho; Iowa; Kansas; Massachusetts; Minnesota; Montana; North Carolina; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Virginia; and Wisconsin. Along with the NWLC, they’re represented by Democracy Forward; Jacobson Lawyers Group; Lynette Labinger for the ACLU Foundation of Rhode Island; and DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry & Revens, Ltd. for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island.