Washington v. Federal Emergency Management Agency

The federal district court for the District of Massachusetts granted plaintiff states’ motion for a preliminary injunction barring the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal defendants from spending funds allocated to the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) pre-disaster mitigation program for non-BRIC purposes until the court renders a final judgment.

Twenty states filed a lawsuit on July 16, 2025 claiming that termination of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) pre-disaster mitigation program and repurposing BRIC funds violates separation of powers and is contrary to law in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, and that withholding appropriated funds violates separation of powers, the Appropriations Clause, and the Spending Clause, and is also contrary to law in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The states also challenged the authority of the acting FEMA Administrators to terminate the BRIC program. In addition, they asserted an equitable ultra vires claim. The states alleged that the shutdown of the program had forced communities across the country “to delay, scale back, or cancel hundreds of mitigation projects depending on this funding,” including climate resilience projects.