AG Frey Signs on to Yet Another Lawsuit Against the Trump Administration, This Time Targeting RFK

Maine Attorney General (AG) Aaron Frey has joined a group of twenty attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenging his mass firing of over 10,000 HHS employees.

[RELATED: Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Frey, Orders Trump Administration to End Freeze on Education Funding…]

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island and is led by Rhode Island AG Peter Neronha, New York AG Letitia James, and Washington AG Nick Brown.

The case is set to be heard by District Judge Melissa R. DuBose, judge who ruled against Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) in her recent censure case, and Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan.

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“In a world where the next pandemic could be right around the corner, and cases of measles are on the rise, taking an axe to the agency responsible for the health and safety of Americans is wildly irresponsible. Americans across the country are already experiencing the detrimental effects of this attack on HHS including new mothers, workers, 9/11 first responders, and those suffering from mental illness and substance use disorder,” said Neronha in a press release.

The lawsuit alleges that Kennedy’s decision to lay off 10,000 employees as part of a March 27 directive has left the HHS incapable of performing its basic functions.

The suit argues that the layoffs have disproportionately affected the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and the Administration for Community Living (ACL).

The agencies have been forced to cancel allegedly critical operations as a result of the layoffs, it stipulates.

“Abandoning the Department’s core functions was not an unintended side effect, but rather, the intended result of the March 27 Directive. Incapacitating one of the most sophisticated departments in the federal government implicates hundreds of statutes, regulations, and programs. But Secretary Kennedy refused to undertake this restructuring legally or carefully,” says the suit.

The AGs pointed out that, with the firing of all probationary government employees by President Donald Trump and the employees who accepted the administration’s buyout, the total loss of HHS employees is closer to 20,000, roughly 25 percent of the department’s workforce.

The plaintiffs are requesting declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the dismantling of the HHS.

[RELATED: Crusading AG Frey Leaves Maine Behind in His Quest to Slay Dragons Across America]

This suit is only the latest in a string of suits filed by Frey and other Democratic AGs against the administration since President Trump took office, including lawsuits against the president’s policy preventing males from competing in girls’ sports.

The plaintiffs are hopeful they will receive their injunctive relief, stalling the dismissals, given that the case is being heard by a Biden-appointed judge.