ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL SECURES LEGAL VICTORY PROTECTING ACCESS TO SOCIAL SERVICES

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL SECURES LEGAL VICTORY PROTECTING ACCESS TO SOCIAL SERVICES

September 21, 2026

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul today announced that he obtained a final court order stopping the Trump administration's unlawful attempt to gut essential health, education and social service programs for low-income families.

"I am proud to have secured this legal victory protecting some of our most crucial social service programs," Raoul said. "I will continue to oppose arbitrary and illegal actions by the Trump administration and will use all the tools at my disposal to fight unlawful orders."

In July 2025, Raoul, as part of a coalition of 21 attorneys general, filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government's reinterpretation of a decades-old law governing access to social services.

In Illinois, these illegal federal rule changes targeted critical programs such as preventative healthcare and maternity care from community health centers, violent crime victim counseling and legal services, Head Start early education and adult literacy education. Illinois also stood to lose $182.5 million dollars annually for critical mental health and substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery programs, which supported nearly 33,000 Illinoisans last year.

Today, a federal court granted the coalition's motion for summary judgment, vacating the administration's sweeping rules that threatened these programs.

Joining Attorney General Raoul in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.