Trump Administration Accepts Defeat; Drops Appeal of Court Loss Blocking Its Illegal Conditioning of Transportation Grant Funding

Pending court approval, case will be fully and permanently resolved in California's favor

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss its appeal of the final judgment permanently blocking the Trump Administration's effort to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on billions of dollars in annual U.S. Department of Transportation grants. By dropping its appeal, the Trump Administration concedes the case, fully resolving it in favor of California and the 21 other states that sued the Administration.

"The Trump Administration attempted to use vital transportation dollars as a bargaining chip for its political agenda," said Attorney General Bonta. "That is why my fellow attorneys general and I stepped in to stop these illegal actions - winning a permanent injunction in the lower court. I am pleased that the Trump Administration has accepted defeat and agreed to drop its appeal of this decision. California is not playing games when it comes to vital transportation dollars that support our public infrastructure, and we will continue taking the President to court each time he weaponizes federal funding to bully our communities."

California receives billions in grant funding from the Department of Transportation to build and maintain vital travel infrastructure like the roads, highways, airways, and bridges that connect communities and carry Californians to their workplaces and homes. This includes funding necessary to prevent fatal traffic accidents and stop drunk drivers, to provide transit for seniors and those with disabilities, and that protects and restores roads after environmental disasters like fires or flooding. Neither the purpose of these grants, nor their grant criteria, are in any way connected to immigration enforcement.

The Constitution is clear: Congress, not the President, decides how federal money is spent. And for decades, Congress has passed laws guaranteeing funding to states like California to improve their roads and protect those who use them - funds that the federal government generally has by virtue of the taxes paid to it by states like California. Yet despite the constraints imposed by Congress and the Constitution, the Trump Administration attempted to seize Congress's power of the purse by imposing unlawful conditions on transportation grants. In doing so, the Trump Administration violated two key principles that underlie the American system of checks and balances: agencies in the Executive Branch cannot act contrary to the authority conferred on them by Congress, and the federal government cannot use the spending power to coerce states into adopting its preferred policies.

On November 4, 2025, the district court issued final judgment in favor of California and the states that challenged this unlawful conduct, issuing an order permanently enjoining the Trump Administration from unlawfully imposing the conditions and vacating the conditions across all U.S. Department of Transportation grants. In issuing its decision, the Court found that the Trump Administration has "blatantly overstepped their statutory authority, violated the APA, and transgressed well-settled constitutional limitations on federal funding conditions. The Constitutions demands the Court set aside this lawless behavior."