In joining today’s lawsuit Attorney General Rayfield joins the attorneys general of Maryland, Delaware, California, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
Salem, Oregon – Teaming up with colleagues from around the nation, Oregon’s top attorney has opposed what he sees as an illegal power grab by trying to stop a sweeping directive nearly destroying AmeriCorps. Last week in federal court, Attorney General Dan Rayfield sued claiming the recent executive order to eliminate AmeriCorps grants and sideline 85 percent of its personnel exceeds constitutional and procedural boundaries.
Fundamentally, AmeriCorps is a light of citizen service, organizing over 200,000 volunteers to address all from elder care to disaster recovery. But in early February, all federal departments were told by the White House to come up strategies for significant layoffs. AmeriCorps reacted quickly: most of its staff members were placed on administrative leave and letters went out warning that by June 24 every role may be eliminated. Then, on April 25, Oregon learned by letter that its own grant awards—funding local volunteers and community projects—had been terminated.
“AmeriCorps represents the best of what it means to be an American: service, sacrifice and community,” Rayfield said. “Gutting this critical work doesn’t just eliminate jobs or opportunities – it tears at the fabric of civic engagement and disproportionally harms vulnerable communities. The president cannot just wipe out public programs funded by public dollars on a whim.”
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Joining Rayfield’s challenge are attorneys general from 23 other states, plus Kentucky and Pennsylvania as separate plaintiffs. Together they contend that the executive order upends the Administrative Procedure Act by circumventing required rule-making steps. More significantly, they argue it violates the separation of powers: only Congress—not the President—can destroy an agency’s capacity to carry out obligations outlined in law or spend money.
The group in its Maryland U.S. District Court complaint requests the judge to stop enforcing the order, reinstate AmeriCorps grants, and let the organization call back its furloughed staff. They contend that these tools are needed by volunteers—from literacy teachers in Maine to wildfire responders in California—to maintain essential community activities.
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Legal authorities point out that the matter challenges basic executive power. They caution that if a president can abolish a program just by fiat, agencies established by statute may disappear overnight, regardless of congressional will or public need.
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At the moment, AmeriCorps initiatives dangle in the balance. All confront a coming deadline: communities waiting for flood cleanup, children depending on mentors, veterans looking for help. Rayfield and his fellow state attorneys are wagering the court will agree that the rule of law cannot be overruled on a whim—and that national service merits more than a temporary reprieve.
