We're Suing the Trump Administration to Restore Funding for an Underground Railroad Museum

In Albany, New York, there is a brick townhouse where abolitionists Stephen and Harriet Myers once sheltered people escaping slavery — some of them led by Harriet Tubman herself. For over twenty years, the Underground Railroad Education Center has called that house home, using it to teach that the Underground Railroad wasn't just a historical footnote. It was a civil rights movement. And it still has something to teach us.

Last week, L4GG volunteer attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on the Center's behalf to get back the funding the Trump administration took from them. It is exactly the kind of case we exist to fight.

What Happened

In 2023, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the Center a $250,000 grant through a rigorous, competitive process. The money was meant to fund a new Interpretive Center — a space that would have expanded the museum's reach, preserved its growing collection of over 27,000 artifacts, and created jobs in one of Albany's most economically marginalized neighborhoods.

The Center met every single requirement. Then, in May 2025, the grant was canceled. No warning. No appeal.

The cancellation came on the heels of a sweeping directive tied to President Trump's executive orders banning DEI programs across federal agencies. Over 1,400 humanities grants were terminated including 98% of those that focused on Black history and culture.The grants that survived? Projects focused on white presidents and founding fathers.

Why This Case Matters

This isn't about paperwork or bureaucracy. It's about who gets to tell the story of America — and who gets erased from it.

Nina Loewenstein, a volunteer attorney on the case through L4GG, put it plainly: the cancellation is "just explicitly erasing things associated with the Black race." She and the team of volunteer lawyers argue that the Underground Railroad Education Center is just one of thousands of organizations unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration.

Our lawsuit argues three things: that the withdrawal was racially discriminatory, that it unconstitutionally punished the Center for its viewpoint, and that it violated the NEH's own legal mandate to support diverse and underrepresented communities — a mandate Congress reaffirmed as recently as 2025.

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The Underground Railroad Education Center did everything right. It earned this grant. And the history it preserves belongs to all of us.

We're asking the court to reinstate the funding and strike down the directive that caused these mass terminations in the first place. Because if we allow the government to defund Black history and call it fiscal responsibility, the damage goes far beyond one museum in Albany.

This is what L4GG's network of attorneys shows up for — to stand with organizations doing vital work that have been wronged. We are proud to bring this fight.

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Cases like this one are handled through L4GG’s Pro Bono Litigation Corps (PBLC) — our flagship program that mobilizes litigators to take on high-impact cases just like this. If you're a litigator looking to do meaningful pro bono work, learn more at L4GG.org/PBLC.

Federal Appeals Court to Hear Arguments in Lawsuit to Restore Environmental and Climate Justice Grant Program

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit will hear oral arguments to determine the fate of more than $3 billion in federal Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants. These funds, authorized by Congress under the Inflation Reduction Act (which added Section 138 to the Clean Air Act), were abruptly terminated by the Trump Administration, stripping critical resources from communities working to ensure clean air, safe water, and climate resilience. 

Attorneys from Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Earthjustice, and Public Rights Project, are representing a coalition of  community-based nonprofits, Tribes, and local governments in Appalachian Voices et al v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This coalition is appealing a U.S. District Court’s August 2025 decision that dismissed the case under the argument that it belongs in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. 

“The rule of law exists to ensure that the government remains accountable to the people and the laws enacted by Congress,” said  Jillian Blanchard, Senior Vice President of Climate Change and Environmental Justice at Lawyers for Good Government. “Communities across this country spent years advocating for these resources, and they made life-altering decisions based on EPA’s promise. To claw back those funds now undermines that trust. L4GG is fighting to restore these funds because a promise made with mandated funding should be a promise kept, and no administration is above the laws passed to protect our communities’ health and future.”

The grants in question were designed to fund projects ranging from air quality monitoring to the implementation of clean energy in over-burdened areas. 

“This argument is another step in our fight to restore the Environment and Climate Justice Block grant program. Congress mandated that EPA award grants to reduce air pollution and prepare communities for natural disasters and extreme weather. EPA’s decision to eliminate this program was unlawful and has harmed communities throughout the South and across the country,” said Ben Grillot, Senior Attorney at Southern Environmental Law Center.

“Local governments and Tribal nations began hiring staff, signing contracts, and launching projects to make their communities healthier and more resilient based on these federal awards — only to have the federal government abruptly pull the rug out from under them. Congress authorized these funds, and the administration cannot simply ignore the law,” said Jonathan Miller, Chief Program Officer at Public Rights Project.

“Communities across the country have lost out on projects that would have tackled environmental harms, reduced pollution, and increased climate resilience because the Trump administration thinks it is above the law,” said Hana Vizcarra, Deputy Managing Attorney at Earthjustice. “We’re fighting alongside our partners and clients to hold the administration to account for its wholesale elimination of EPA’s grant program, which unlawfully stripped these beneficial projects from communities across the country.”

The arguments  will determine whether the court will hear the case that compels the restoration of these funds. 

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Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) coordinates large-scale pro bono programs and issue advocacy efforts to protect human rights, defend the environment, and ensure equal justice under the law, and has a network of 125,000+ lawyers to assist in its efforts. lawyersforgoodgovernment.org

Public Rights Project is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that helps local government officials fight for civil rights. We do this by building their capacity to protect and advance civil rights, convening and connecting them on issues of civil rights, and providing legal representation to governments to help them win in court on behalf of their residents. Since our founding, we’ve built a network of over 1,300 partners, including elected officials and 227 government offices across all 50 states, and helped recover over $46 million in relief for marginalized people. www.publicrightsproject.org 

The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 250, including more than 160 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. selc.org

Earthjustice is the premier environmental law organization in the U.S., and the legal backbone of the domestic environmental movement. For over 50 years, we have been fighting in the courts, in legislatures, and in the court of public opinion to stop the climate crisis, create healthy communities free of pollution, safeguard our precious lands and waters, and expand environmental legal frameworks to achieve these goals. Earthjustice.org

What can YOU do to fight for abortion access after Dobbs?

UPDATE - Please Join our Emergency Call on Tuesday, 6/28 at 3pm ET - How Lawyers Can Fight for Abortion Access and Other Civil and Human Rights. This is an on-demand webinar and all registrants will receive a copy of the webinar (even if you’re reading this after 6/28).

The Supreme Court today ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, an indefensible decision that strips away a fundamental and constitutional right to bodily autonomy. It’s a shattering blow that will harm millions and impact all of us. 

Half of the states in the U.S. are now likely to follow suit and severely restrict or ban abortion. As a result, even more people will be forced to travel hundreds of miles out of state or carry pregnancies to term against their will in violation of their human rights. 

Millions of individuals across the U.S. still need abortion care. The right to decide whether or when to have a child is essential for social, economic, and racial equality. 

DOING NOTHING IN THE FACE OF THIS DECISION IS NOT AN OPTION.

Here are 4 concrete things you can do to help fight for abortion access:

1. Get Informed: Learn what the Dobbs decision means for your state or territory. What is the current status of abortion access in your state? Do you know if your state has a pre-Roe ban on abortion that was never repealed and might be enforced once again? Does your state have a trigger ban that is intended to ban abortion if the Supreme Court limits or overturns Roe? To learn more about the status of abortion rights in your state or territory, we recommend two policy maps, one from the Center for Reproductive Rights and one from Guttmacher Institute here.
   

2. Volunteer your time and expertise to help protect abortions in your state. We must pursue proactive protections beyond the courts and focus our efforts on building power from the ground up, at the state and local levels. Below are a few ways you can do that.
   

   • If you’re a lawyer or a law student, sign up for L4GG’s new State Legislative Advocacy Academy, a first-of-its-kind training series for lawyers to learn how to use their unique skills and privilege to influence public policy in their home states. Members of our initial lawyer cohort will go through a multi-part training in the fall of 2022 ready to fight for abortion access and other key issues in their own state during the 2023 legislative session.
     

   • If you’re a lawyer at a large law firm, ask your pro bono coordinator whether your firm is a Pro Bono Partner of L4GG. If your firm is already a partner, there may be opportunities forthcoming for you to volunteer for abortion access projects that our policy team is working on. If your firm would like to learn more about partnering with us, please ask your pro bono coordinator to email us at probono@L4GG.org.
     

   • If none of the above opportunities is applicable to you, but you'd still like to help, make sure you’re on our email list and check the websites of some of our organizational allies for other ways to volunteer - The Brigid Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights are good places to start.
     

3. Donate to the L4GG Action Fund to advance state protections to abortion access and other issues of civil and human rights. L4GG is working on two fronts to protect abortion access and we need your support. First, we’re launching the above-mentioned Advocacy Academy this fall that will mobilize lawyers nationwide to influence public policy in their own states on issues like reproductive and racial justice. Second, we are working in coalition with leading abortion access groups to ensure they have the legal resources they need to enact new state-level protections of abortion care, including providing them with pro bono volunteers and trained state legislative advocates from our Advocacy Academy.
   

4. Support providers, patients, abortion funds, and clinics on the ground. If abortion is protected in your state, support your local providers with the resources they will need to serve out-of-state patients in light of Dobbs. If abortion is not protected in your state, consider supporting the Brigid Alliance or your local Abortion Fund to cover procedures, transportation, lodging, and more. The National Network of Abortion Funds is a great place to start.

If you’re unable to offer money, time, or expertise right now, you can still help by sharing this post with your friends, family, and contacts via email, Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks. Please help us get the word out. 

The L4GG Action Fund is a 501(c)4 nonprofit, and as such donations are not tax-deductible.

L4GG's Spring 2022 Newsletter is here!

We’re at a critical time in the fight for human rights — between the invasion of Ukraine, the legislative attacks on bodily autonomy and the worsening climate crisis, the situation seems dire. But I am heartened by the way the Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) community of lawyers and advocates has risen to meet the moment. 

For example, we’ve kicked off our TPS Pro Bono Project for Ukraine, we’re teaching municipalities how to access funding for green infrastructure, shedding light on corporal punishment in public schools and much more.

Take a look at our newsletter below to learn more, and if you want to help us continue this vital work, consider making a donation.