5 Things You Need to Know About the Growing Federal Challenges to DOJ Program
- The conflict is centered on the Department of Justice's "Third-Party Settlement" policy, which critics argue oversteps federal boundaries by forcing states to funnel settlement funds from civil cases into preferred national nonprofits, bypassing local legislatures.
- A coalition of 23 state attorneys general has formally petitioned a federal judge to block the program, claiming it violates the 10th Amendment by coercing states into surrendering their sovereign budgetary powers for federal grants.
- The DOJ is facing a new federal court challenge from the Pacific Legal Foundation, which argues the program creates a "shadow lobbying system" that uses private lawsuits to advance political agendas without public consent or oversight.
- Recent internal DOJ memos, leaked to the press, reveal that agency officials are scrambling to revise the program's language amid threats from Congress to strip funding if it cannot meet constitutional muster in ongoing federal challenges.
- The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to issue an emergency stay on the program in at least three separate cases, setting up a high-stakes legal showdown that could redefine how federal administrative agencies interact with state-level judicial settlements.