Overview
- The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta vacates termination notices for seven awards worth roughly $27.6–$28 million tied to projects like EV charging, building energy codes, and methane reduction.
- Mehta found the Department of Energy’s selective terminations violated the Fifth Amendment’s equal-protection guarantee, noting defendants prioritized canceling awards based on recipients’ location in states that did not vote for the president in 2024.
- The decision did not reinstate the wider set of cancellations, which totaled about $7.5–$7.6 billion across 315 grants supporting 223 projects in 16 states.
- The judge rejected plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims and set briefing for this week on whether to bar DOE from using political considerations in future decisions for the parties in the case.
- DOE said it stands by its review determining certain projects did not justify continued spending, and officials could appeal as an internal watchdog audit examines the larger tranche of canceled awards.