Federal judge extends order blocking Trump admin’s cuts to Illinois public health funding

A federal judge in Chicago has extended an order blocking the Trump administration from cutting $600 million in public heath grants to Illinois and three other Democratic-led states.

U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah issued a preliminary injunction Friday in the Northern District of Illinois Court, extending a temporary restraining order he issued last month that was set to expire.

The four targeted states — Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado and California — filed a federal lawsuit in February.

The funding cuts would have targeted HIV tracking, lead poisoning prevention, family planning and other public health initiatives across the four states. In Illinois, the planned cuts targeted at least $29 million in grants funding the American Medical Association in Illinois, which supports gender-affirming care, and various HIV prevention programs.

In the injunction, Shah said the cuts could have led to “irreparable harm” and that the public interest favored preserving the funding. Any actions taken to halt payments to the targeted states from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be considered “null, void, and rescinded,” Shah wrote.

The judge set another hearing in the case for next Monday.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul previously said the cuts would lead to the loss of 100 jobs at the Illinois Department of Public Health and the end of lead poisoning prevention grants in 25 local health departments.

“Targeting four Democrat-run states that are standing up to his completely unrelated immigration policies is a transparent attempt to bully us into compliance,” Raoul said in a statement after Shah issued the temporary restraining order. “We remain unflinching in our commitment to defending against the Trump administration’s continued unlawful directives intended to force us to implement immigration and other unrelated policies.”

Raoul did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the preliminary injunction.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.