Mar 4, 2025; Washington, DC, USA; U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends U.S. President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump was expected to address Congress on his early achievements of his presidency and his upcoming legislative agenda. Mandatory Credit: Win McNamee-Pool via Imagn Images
Rhode Island – More than a dozen states are suing the Trump administration over sweeping layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), arguing the cuts are illegal, unconstitutional, and devastating to public health. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Rhode Island federal court, is the most aggressive legal challenge yet to what the states call a politically motivated dismantling of the federal health agency.
Led by New York, California, Washington, D.C., and 17 other Democratic-led states, the suit targets President Trump’s dramatic restructuring plan — executed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — which aims to slash the agency’s workforce by 25%, or 20,000 jobs. Thousands of employees across critical departments like the CDC, FDA, and NIH have already received layoff notices, and many programs have ground to a halt.
“This is not just bureaucratic reshuffling. These cuts are inflicting real damage,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement. “More Americans will suffer from illness, injury, and death without these commonsense programs.”
The layoffs, announced in March as part of a broader effort to downsize the federal government, are being pushed by Trump with support from tech billionaire Elon Musk. HHS has defended the move as a necessary streamlining effort. But states say it has crippled access to grants, shuttered disease-testing labs, and upended partnerships critical to public health and workplace safety.
The lawsuit alleges that HHS is violating multiple federal laws, including the Administrative Procedure Act, bypassing congressional authority and gutting programs lawmakers have specifically funded. The states also accuse Kennedy of acting in bad faith, citing his history of vaccine skepticism and recent comments acknowledging that “20% of the layoffs may have been mistakes.”
Among the consequences cited in the complaint are the total stoppage of disease surveillance programs, suspended federal lab certifications, and preschool initiatives like Head Start left without technical support. “Dismantling HHS by terminating the people necessary for it to meet its own mandates is an unlawful effort to undercut the will of Congress,” the lawsuit says.
HHS spokespersons defended the cuts, insisting the agency followed civil service laws and claiming the restructuring will ultimately “strengthen the agency’s capacity.”
But critics aren’t convinced. “Incapacitating one of the most sophisticated departments in the federal government implicates hundreds of statutes,” the complaint says. “This wasn’t legal. It wasn’t careful. And it cannot stand.”
The states are asking the court to invalidate the layoffs and reinstate all affected employees. Whether the courts will side with them — or whether this legal challenge can stop the cuts — remains to be seen. A judge has not yet set a timeline for proceedings.
