Federal Ruling Deems $7.6 Billion Clean Energy Cut Unconstitutional Due to Political Targeting

2026-01-14 politics

Washington, Wednesday, 14 January 2026.
A judge determined the administration violated the Fifth Amendment by canceling grants exclusively in states that voted for Kamala Harris, signaling a critical check on executive fiscal authority.

Constitutional Violations in Grant Terminations

On Monday, January 12, 2026, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled that the Trump administration’s termination of clean energy grants violated the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee [3][4][7]. The court found that the Department of Energy (DOE) had cancelled these awards primarily because the recipients were located in states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election [1][5]. While the specific lawsuit—filed by the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a coalition of environmental groups—addressed seven grants worth approximately $27.6 million, the ruling implicates a broader executive action that halted over $7.5 billion in funding for 223 projects nationwide [2][5][7].

Targeted Financial Impact on Democratic States

The financial scale of the cancellations was substantial, targeting initiatives intended to upgrade battery plants, electric grids, and hydrogen technology [1][5]. Among the impacted projects were a hydrogen hub in California, which lost up to $1.2 billion, and a similar $1 billion project in the Pacific Northwest [1]. The data indicates a clear partisan divide in the administration’s fiscal management: funding was stripped from 16 states that supported Harris, including New York and Illinois, while comparable projects in states that voted for President Trump—such as Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania—were spared from the cuts [1][5].

Partisan Intent and Constitutional Limits

The administration had defended the cuts as a necessary measure to protect taxpayer funds, with DOE spokesman Ben Dietderich stating that the projects did not meet the standards required to justify continued spending [1]. However, the court rejected this rationale, noting that the defendants admitted to making termination decisions based “primarily—if not exclusively” on the political identity of the awardee’s state [1][2]. White House Budget Director Russell Vought had explicitly framed the cancellations as an effort to dismantle the “Left’s climate agenda,” referring to the grants as “Green New Scam” funding [1][7]. Judge Mehta concluded that there was “no rational relationship” between the location-based terminations and any legitimate government interest, describing the action as disparate treatment of “blue” versus “red” states [2][8].

Parallel Legal Victories for Clean Energy

This decision arrived alongside a second judicial defeat for the administration’s energy agenda. On Tuesday, January 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the Danish developer Orsted could resume construction on a $5 billion offshore wind farm serving Rhode Island and Connecticut [6]. The Interior Department had ordered a pause on the nearly complete project in December 2025, citing unspecified national security concerns, a move Judge Lamberth characterized as “arbitrary and capricious” [6]. Together, these rulings suggest a tightening judicial check on the executive branch’s ability to unilaterally dismantle established energy infrastructure and funding based on political grievances [6].

Implications for the Energy Sector

The legal outcomes are expected to reinvigorate the clean energy sector, which had faced uncertainty following the October 2025 cuts [3][7]. By vacating the termination notices, the court has paved the way for the reinstatement of funds that support job creation and affordable energy initiatives [4]. As noted by Ianni Houmas, Executive Director of the Southeast Community Organization, the ruling establishes a precedent that “no community should be punished for its politics,” reinforcing the constitutional requirement that federal agencies must administer funds without political bias [2][4].

Sources

Clean Energy Federal Grants