BALTIMORE – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over its attempt to impose unlawful conditions on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, grants, cooperative agreements, and mutual interest agreements.
In their lawsuit, Attorney General Brown and the coalition assert that USDA has threatened harsh penalties if states do not comply with the agency’s vague and expansive funding conditions relating to immigration, diversity, equity and inclusion, and gender identity, which are unrelated to the purpose of USDA funding.
The lawsuit asks the court to block USDA from imposing these unlawful funding conditions on USDA programs. The critical programs administered by USDA include the school lunch program; Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); and the Volunteer Fire Capacity Program. If USDA uses the new conditions to cut off access to any of these programs, it could threaten basic, essential services for millions of Maryland’s most vulnerable children, working families, senior citizens, and rural communities.
“The USDA is threatening to deny critical food assistance to Maryland’s most vulnerable — our children, seniors, and working families — to force compliance with its unlawful demands,” said Attorney General Brown. “Our Office will not allow the Trump Administration to use this vital support as leverage for its political agenda.”
Effective Dec. 31, 2025, USDA adopted new funding conditions. The conditions require states to promise to comply with the Trump administration’s policies related to gender identity, diversity, immigration and fair athletic opportunities for girls and women. However, Attorney General Brown and the other attorneys general explain in their lawsuit that USDA does not clearly specify what the new conditions require from states, leaving states at the risk of arbitrary enforcement by USDA.
In their lawsuit, Attorney General Brown and the coalition allege the Trump administration has violated the Spending Clause by imposing coercive conditions without clear notice of its funding conditions. The lawsuit also alleges the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because conditions are the arbitrary and capricious, not constitutional, contrary to law, and beyond USDA’s statutory authority.
USDA programs feed about 30 million children across the nation through the school lunch program, strengthen the American food ecosystem from farm to table, support national security through a robust and safe domestic agriculture community, fund university research to advance domestic food production, and save lives and infrastructure by funding firefighting programs.
Maryland and its residents receive more than $2 billion of funding and benefits annually across all these USDA programs.
Attorney General Brown and the other attorneys general have asked the court to prohibit USDA from implementing or enforcing the unlawful conditions.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Don’t let anything happen to your people or illegals then it’s RACIST.