Update, February 14: As of Friday, February 14, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to block the withholding of federal funds from health institutions that provide gender-affirming care.
Originally published: Wednesday, February 12
As protesters descended on the Oregon State Capitol last week to protest a litany of executive orders from the Trump administration, Oregon’s elected leaders were pushing back on Trump in a different way.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced the state had joined five multi-state lawsuits seeking to block several of the president’s directives.
On January 21, Oregon joined three other states in a court filing to halt Trump's plans to end birthright citizenship. A week later, Rayfield’s office joined 22 other states in litigation challenging a freeze on federal funds.
“In the past 24 hours, an order from the White House has impacted billions of dollars in funds that Oregonians rely on for healthcare, food, public safety, housing and more,” Rayfield stated in an announcement about the multi-state federal funding lawsuit. “The President is playing politics with our day to day lives, all to advance his agenda. He has a history of punishing states with whom he disagrees.”
Last week, Rayfield also joined a lawsuit to block Trump’s order to end funding for medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care, as well as another multi-state complaint over top Trump staffer Elon Musk gaining access to the private information of millions of Americans via the US Treasury Department.
Earlier this week, Rayfield and 21 other attorneys general were successful in getting a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Health and Human Services for efforts to slash biomedical and public health research funding.
Protests swept the nation last week, amid a series of rapid-fire federal orders and bold overreaches of authority that continue to push the US toward a constitutional crisis. Much of the controversy surrounds Musk, who vowed to shrink the size of the US government via the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Among the most egregious events cited by Rayfield and protesters was Musk’s DOGE team overtaking the federal Treasury payment system, which contains sensitive data and is responsible for sending out federal employee paychecks, Social Security benefits, and more. Musk’s team also planned to halt payments to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the system. David Lebryk, then acting Treasury secretary, questioned the legality of this move and soon announced his departure from the Treasury, ending a 35-year career.
Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction to halt plans to put 2,200 USAID employees on leave. By Saturday, February 8, DOGE had been blocked from the Treasury payment system by a federal judge citing risk of “irreparable harm.” Oregon was among 19 states who joined the lawsuit against DOGE.
Since taking office on January 20, Trump has been on a tear, issuing executive orders targeting birthright citizenship, trans rights, and government funding for health care and foreign aid, among other sweeping moves.
The Trump administration faces at least eight lawsuits challenging the birthright citizenship order and at least half a dozen other sweeping moves also face court challenges.
As of Friday, federal judges temporarily halted all five executive orders challenged by Oregon. The lawsuit regarding funding and potential penalization for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care aligns with a similar lawsuit that’s expected to be decided by the Supreme Court.
But even as the status of these federal lawsuits remains in limbo, for many, the damage has already begun.
Nonprofit organizations that provide aid to immigrant communities were notified earlier this month that their federal funding was frozen, effective immediately. The threat of a federal funding freeze also has city-run agencies preparing for the loss of critical federal grants. Andrew Culberson at the city’s Safe Blocks program told Portland city councilors during a Public Safety Committee meeting that his office has started “contingency planning” for the possibility of losing reimbursement of $2 million in federal grant dollars.
“We are counting on spending that money,” Culberson said. “Without that money to spend in the community … we would not be able to fund activities, programming, [and] neighborhood improvements like we are now.”
Sylecia Johnston was among more than 500 people who took part in the 50501 movement–50 states, 50 protests, one day–on February 5 at the Capitol in Salem.
“I lost my job when the Trump administration shut down USAID,” Johnston, a protester from Portland said. “Allowing an unelected billionaire to go into our government and shut down whatever he likes and have access to information that you would normally need a very high security clearance for… is just absolutely outrageous.”
Johnston, who works for a small private firm that relies on USAID, suggested cutting staff or resources at USAID or any other federal agencies would have adverse effects.
“They’re saying they’re doing this to make America safer, but I can guarantee you the shutdown of USAID is making China and Russia stronger, and America weaker. I saw it firsthand in developing nations. This is just kinda the line for me. I’m also a Jewish American and was raised to be anti-fascist and to call out Nazis whenever I see them.”
Last week’s 50501 protest at the Capitol was the largest political demonstration in Oregon since Trump took office. Another nationwide protest dubbed “Not My President” is scheduled for Presidents Day on February 17.
