AVAC v. United States Department of State

On February 10, 2025, AVAC and another nonprofit organization sued the President, the State Department, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Marco Rubio, Secretary State and Acting Administrator of USAID, and Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking emergency relief from an Executive Order that inhumanely froze all funding for foreign assistance.

A day later, an additional case was brought against the federal government by Global Health Council and partners. While the cases were brought separately, they were assigned to the same judge who brought them together as related cases to be considered at the same time.

By abruptly freezing foreign assistance funding, the administration halted the life-saving work of organizations across the globe and cost thousands of American jobs and counting. Lead lawyer on the case, Lauren Bateman from Public Citizen said, “The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign assistance funding is dangerous and illegal. When programs are abruptly shuttered, the impacts are felt throughout the world—with the most vulnerable people bearing the deadliest impact.” 

The Executive Order forced AVAC to abruptly stop CASPR, a coalition of African civil society organizations that supports research on HIV prevention and provides resources for local communities, including medical research trial participants, journalists, and policy makers. As a result, the rollout of emerging HIV preventative drugs across the African continent may be delayed, risking deadly consequences. AVAC has been forced by the illegal funding freeze to begin laying off staff. 

Mitchell Warren, AVAC’s Executive Director, called the funding freeze and other the draconian actions of this administration harmful to global health and security: “In the name of economic efficiency, they are destabilizing public health, diplomatic relationships, communities, and economies. AVAC and many of our African civil society CASPR partners will be irreparably harmed by this pause. It takes time to build up these programs and relationships, but it is taking days to destroy them—and it will take more time to re-build, no matter who funds these efforts. USAID has made America stronger, safer and more prosperous for decades. It’s no time to throw that away.”

Key Dates

• January 20: US Presidential administration issues Executive Order “pausing” foreign aid for 90-day review.
• February 10: AVAC, Journalism Development Network, and Public Citizen file suit against funding freeze; read about it in our press release, New York Times, Devex, and Politico.
• February 11: Global Health Council and other plaintiffs file suit against administration challenging funding freeze.
• February 12:  Judge Amir Ali holds preliminary hearing on both cases.
• February 13: Judge Amir Ali issues temporary restraining order, ordering government to reinstate foreign aid funding; here are the press statements from Public Citizen and the Global Health Council and media reports here: NPR, Time, Devex, and The Guardian.
• February 18: US government lawyers respond to TRO. Read about it in Washington Post.
• February 19: AVAC’s lawyers respond, asking the Court to hold USG officials in contempt of Court. See it in Reuters, the New York Times, CNBC, NBC, Politico and Devex. This filing includes an alarming declaration from “Jessica Doe”, a USAID contracting office providing clear evidence of intentional disregard of the TRO.
• February 20: US government lawyers responded to the motion for contempt; AVAC’s lawyers responded; and the Court responded. The Court made clear to US government officials that continued defiance of the Court’s order is unlawful. See coverage of these developments in Washington Post, Devex, and Politico.
• February 20: Separately, Global Health Council filed an additional motion trying to compel payment of foreign-assistance funds.
• February 21: The Court issues minute order re-stating that US government officials must “immediately cease [the blanket suspension of funds] and to take all necessary steps to honor the terms of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, and other federal foreign assistance awards that were in existence as of January 19, 2025, including but not limited to disbursing all funds payable under those terms.” A joint status report is due on Feb 26 addressing US government’s “prompt compliance with the order.”

The full listing of all documents in AVAC v State is here and Global Health Council v Trump here.