Court says Trump illegally blocked clean energy grants to Democratic states

A US district judge ruled that Trump’s decision singled out states that voted for Democrats in the 2024 elections.Published On 13 Jan 2026A United States judge has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump acted illegally when it cancelled the payment of $7.6bn in clean energy grants to states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.In a decision on Monday, US District Judge Amit Mehta said the administration’s actions violated the Constitution’s equal protection requirements.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US says it wants to control Venezuelan oil indefinitely. Can it?list 2 of 3Is the US unlocking Venezuela’s oil wealth or exploiting it?list 3 of 3Trump promises oil executives ‘total safety’ if they invest in Venezuelaend of list“Defendants freely admit that they made grant-termination decisions primarily – if not exclusively – based on whether the awardee resided in a state whose citizens voted for President Trump in 2024,” Mehta wrote in a summary of the case.The grants were intended to support hundreds of clean energy projects across 16 states, including California, Colorado, New Jersey and Washington state. The projects included initiatives to create battery plants and hydrogen technology.But projects in those states were cancelled in October, as the Trump administration sought to ratchet up pressure on Democratic-led states during a heated government shutdown.At the time, Trump told the network One America News (OAN) that he would take aim at projects closely associated with the Democratic Party.“We could cut projects that they wanted, favourite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” he told the network.Russell Vought, the Trump-appointed director for the Office of Management and Budget, posted on social media that month that “funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda” had been “cancelled”.The cuts included up to $1.2bn for a hub in California aimed at accelerating hydrogen technology, and up to $1bn for a hydrogen project in the Pacific Northwest.