On June 29, 2026, a federal judge blocked the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) from enforcing sweeping ideological conditions on transportation funding that Congress had already committed to the City of Shoreline, Washington. The ruling in City of Shoreline v. U.S. Department of Transportation is a major win for the City — and for L4GG’s Pro Bono Litigation Corps (PBLC), which serves as co-counsel for Shoreline in the case.
What was at stake
In 2023, Shoreline won a $20 million federal RAISE grant for its West Side Transformation Project, the culmination of a decade of regional planning to connect the west side of I-5 to the area’s new light rail station. The project includes important safety upgrades along 145th Street/State Route 253 — a designated high-injury corridor where crashes have caused 12 serious injuries and deaths over the past decade — a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over I-5, and a neighborhood bike network. It anchors nearly $128 million in regional investment and roughly 275 jobs, in an area where nearly 4,000 new housing units are expected to open in the next few years.
Then DOT upended that work. To keep its committed funding, Shoreline was told it must certify that it does not operate any diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that violate federal anti-discrimination laws or “promote gender ideology,” and agree that its compliance with all federal nondiscrimination laws is “material” to payment for purposes of the False Claims Act. As the City’s complaint explains, those conditions created an impossible choice: forgo funding Shoreline had relied on for years, or accept vague, unlawful conditions and face the threat of federal investigations and ruinous liability.
The court agreed
Shoreline filed suit in April 2026, represented by the Shoreline City Attorney’s Office and L4GG. With the help of a PBLC volunteer attorney, our litigation team drafted the City’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which was consolidated for decision with a parallel motion brought by Seattle, Cleveland, and other municipalities challenging the same kinds of grant conditions.
Judge Barbara J. Rothstein of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granted the motion, holding that Shoreline was likely to succeed in its claim that the agencies’ actions were contrary to law because “general grant administration authority and existing civil rights statutes do not authorize agencies to impose new, cross-cutting conditions untethered from the purposes Congress specified for the relevant grant programs.” DOT is now barred from enforcing the challenged conditions against Shoreline while the case proceeds.
One year of the Pro Bono Litigation Corps
This win arrives as the PBLC marks its first anniversary. Launched on July 21, 2025, the Corps mobilizes experienced attorneys — retired, solo, and independent lawyers who want to serve — and gives them the infrastructure to take on high-impact litigation. Shoreline’s case is exactly what the Corps was built for: a community with everything at stake, an unlawful federal overreach, and skilled volunteers ready to stand in the gap.
The fight isn’t over — the injunction is preliminary, and the case continues. If you’re an attorney who wants to be part of what comes next, volunteer with the PBLC. If you want to power this work, support the Corps.