AG Jeff Jackson says NC lawsuits protected $1.5 billion from Trump cuts

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson on Thursday touted the $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars that he says his office has protected by fighting federal agencies in court after they attempted to deny funding to the state.

“This was money for education, health care, western North Carolina recovery, law enforcement, and food for our kids,” Jackson, a Democrat, said in a statement. “So we took them to court — and won. Our tax money belongs here at home, and we’ll always fight to protect it.”

The billion-dollar figure stems from 10 of the 18 lawsuits Jackson has filed against the Trump administration since he took office last year.

Some of the cases are still live, though, with funding cuts temporarily blocked as the lawsuits work their way through the court system.

Thursday’s announcement comes as Republican state lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully to limit Jackson’s power to sue the Trump administration.

Last year, the state Senate advanced Senate Bill 58, which would have blocked Jackson from challenging Trump’s executive orders in court.

Despite passing the Senate, the bill never came to a vote in the House — nor was it scheduled for any committee hearings.

Lawsuits target cuts to food stamps, disaster preparedness, health care

The cases Jackson have brought against the Trump administration spanned a wide variety of funding issues, from university research to Helene recovery.

In many instances, Jackson joined other state attorneys general in filing the lawsuits as they sought to stop similar cuts in their own states.

And while most of the 18 cases Jackson has filed against the Trump administration dealt with funding cuts, some involved different legal issues, as when he challenged Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship.

Jackson’s largest win came from a multi-state lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which had threatened to withhold $425 million in food stamps if North Carolina did not enforce new eligibility rules within 24 hours. A court granted Jackson’s request for a preliminary injunction to block USDA’s threat.

It wasn’t his only case dealing with food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. During the federal government shutdown last year, the USDA refused to fund $230 million in SNAP benefits for 1.4 million North Carolinians. After Jackson sued, a court ordered the federal government to release the money.

In another lawsuit, Jackson joined a group of attorneys general in suing the Federal Emergency Management Association for cutting $200 million in disaster preparedness grants related to water and sewer infrastructure. A court later ordered FEMA to provide the funds.

And in a case still being argued in federal court, a judge temporarily ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reverse over $230 million in cuts to substance abuse and mental health programs in North Carolina after Jackson sued.

The Trump administration has defended funding cuts for a variety of reasons, often blaming alleged promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or citing the administration’s opposition to clean-energy programs.

The full list of cases involving funding cuts is detailed below:

• $165 million in public education funding cuts from the U.S. Department of Education
• $230 million in food stamps cuts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• $200 million in cuts to disaster preparedness grants from the Federal Emergency Management Association
• $123 million in cuts to public health research from the National Institutes of Health
• $17 million in cuts to emergency management and disaster relief from FEMA
• $2.6 million in cuts to jobs and grants for Western North Carolina recovery from AmeriCorps
• $154 million in cuts to solar power grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• $230 million in cuts to substance abuse and mental health treatment programs from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• $29 million in frozen state funds from the Office of Management and Budget
• $425 million in food stamps potentially withheld by the USDA

This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 1:00 PM.

Kyle Ingram

The News & Observer

Kyle Ingram is the Democracy Reporter for the News & Observer. He reports on voting rights, election administration, the state judicial branch and more. He is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill.