On April 1, 2025, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown co-led a coalition of 24 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. over the unlawful termination of $11 billion in critical public health funding. Beginning on March 24, 2025, HHS abruptly, with no advance notice or warning, issued termination notices to state and local public health agencies across the country, purporting to end federal funding for grants that provide essential support for a wide range of urgent public health needs, including identifying, tracking, and addressing infectious diseases; ensuring access to immunizations; and modernizing critical public health infrastructure.

The funding cuts directly affected biomedical research infrastructure, particularly at institutions like the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. These institutions rely on federal grants to support clinical trials and research into treatments for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. The sudden loss of funding jeopardized ongoing studies and threatened to delay or halt progress in these critical areas.

The coalition alleged that the termination notices are unlawful in several ways under the Administrative Procedure Act. The coalition sought a temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo and immediately restore the public health funding, due to the irreparable harm that their respective states and their local health jurisdictions would otherwise suffer. On May 16, 2025, the U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Rhode Island blocked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. from illegally terminating $11 billion in critical public health funding for the states.

I’m pleased the court agreed with me and my fellow state attorneys general that HHS and Secretary Kennedy cannot arbitrarily defund public health and behavioral health programs. If allowed to stand, this inexplicable, illegal action will cause deep harm to Colorado’s ability to deal with challenges ranging from fighting infectious diseases to fighting substance abuse. I will continue to protect Colorado by challenging any illegal actions by the Trump administration that harm the people of this state. Attorney General Phil Weiser