Sexual assault examination kit. (Photo: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance)
Seventeen statewide anti-domestic and sexual violence coalitions have asked a Rhode Island federal judge to halt the Trump administration’s new restrictions for grants administered by an office within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Violence Against Women Act.
The request comes as part of a lawsuit led by the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence challenging the legality of the DOJ’s efforts to withhold funding awarded through its Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in order to advance the administration’s priorities on gender ideology, DEI and immigration.
The lawsuit was filed on June 16 by lawyers representing the ACLU of Rhode Island and the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, as well as Democracy Forward, Jacobson Lawyers Group, and the National Women’s Law Center. The case was assigned to Senior District Judge William E. Smith in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence is made up of 10 agencies and has received grants from OVW for over two decades. Brianna Henries, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence deferred comment to Democracy Forward.
“By forcing providers to choose between certifying compliance with unlawful conditions or giving up federal funding needed to help keep their communities safe, the Trump administration is holding funding hostage in an effort to force service providers to bend to the administration’s anti-DEI, anti-immigrant, and anti-trans goals,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. “This is unlawful and threatens important programs preventing domestic violence and sexual assault and supporting survivors.”
The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration has proposed a 29% cut to the OVW program’s funding in its fiscal year 2026 budget request.
Under new DOJ guidelines, organizations cannot use federal funds for research projects, promoting or facilitating violations of federal immigration law, programs that discourage cooperation with law enforcement, or initiatives that promote gender ideology.
Organizations are also prohibited from engaging in “activities that frame domestic violence or sexual assault as systemic social justice issues rather than criminal offenses.”
According to the lawsuit, the DOJ has started demanding that grant recipients certify they are complying with the conditions and could be subject to substantial penalties under the federal False Claims Act if they do not comply. Penalties include the potential withholding of funds, contract termination with the federal government and criminal prosecution.
Attorneys for the ACLU and the coalition claim such demands by the administration violate the Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits “arbitrary and capricious” federal agency actions. They also argue the alleged quid-pro-quo for funding violates the First Amendment by “seeking to silence disfavored speech.”
“The new funding conditions are unconstitutional several times over,” the 49-page memo for the preliminary injunction states.
The grants were created under the Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Violence Against Women Act to help organizations that support victims through legal services, housing assistance and crisis counseling.
According to the lawsuit, added funding conditions force organizations into an “impossible” choice: give up crucial support or comply with rules that contradict their values and legal responsibilities.
North Carolina impact
The complaint states that the Durham-based North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence has been receiving grant funding of the kind endangered by the new Trump administration rules for a quarter-century. According to the lawsuit:
“The North Carolina Coalition has received a Coalition Grant each year since at least 2001 and is currently operating under the FY24 Coalition Grant, which provides a total of $113,574 through September 30, 2025.”
The suit notes further that the North Carolina group has also received (and intends to apply going forward) for the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women’s Disability Grant and Rural Program Grant — both of which are subject to the new administration grant conditions.
–-NC Newsline
$1 million in grants awarded to Rhode Island annually
The Rhode Island Coalition has an annual budget of roughly $5.3 million, of which approximately $3.4 million is passed through to member agencies. Roughly $1 million of that comes from Office on Violence Against Women grants, the coalition’s executive director, Lucy Rios, stated in an affidavit.
Federal grants and contracts accounted for 79% of the coalition’s revenue, according to its annual report.
The coalition has received grant funding in various program categories every year since at least 2001. It has sought training and technical assistance grants and other competitive discretionary grants, including $114,533 awarded for the period Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025. The lawsuit was filed ahead of a June 25 deadline to apply for a fiscal 2025 training and technical assistance grant that was anticipated in the amount of $113,574.
Rhode Island received $550,000 from the OVW in 2022 to create a safe visitation and exchange program for domestic violence survivors and their children — along with LGBTQ-related advocacy. The coalition also received a $350,000 grant to educate young men — particularly youth of color and immigrant communities — on the crimes of domestic and dating violence.
The coalition sought to continue the programs with additional grant funding, along with $900,000 to be used toward identifying potential high-risk cases for supervision and monitoring, according to the affidavit.
“Without access to this funding, vital programs that keep Rhode Islanders safe and keep our state at the forefront of addressing domestic violence are at risk, including RI’s first Safe Exchange and Supervised Visitation Center for families experiencing domestic violence,” Rios said in a June 16 statement. “We strive to be as courageous and resilient as the survivors in our communities as we stand up to protect the safety net for victims and infrastructure for prevention that we have been collectively building for nearly 50 years.”
A spokesperson for the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The group of state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions includes the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence; California Partnership to End Domestic Violence; Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault; DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence; End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence; Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Jane Doe Inc. (The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence); Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence; Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence; ValorUS; Violence Free Minnesota; Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance; and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
This report was first published by the Rhode Island Current, which like Nc Newsline, is part of the national States Newsroom network.
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