The group argues that efforts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services imperil the nation’s libraries and violate the law.
The American Library Association and a union representing more than 42,000 cultural workers nationwide have filed a lawsuit contesting the Trump administration’s deep cuts to the federal agency that supports the nation’s libraries, arguing that the cuts are already causing “irreparable harm.”
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday by the library association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, came days after the Institute for Museum and Library Services dismissed most of its staff of 70, fired its board and began informing state library agencies that their grants had been cut. The suit seeks a preliminary injunction reversing those actions and halting “any further steps to dissolve the agency” until the court can fully consider the issue.
The plaintiffs assert that cuts, which the suit says were ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, threatened to disrupt the operation of libraries across the country. They argue the moves are illegal because they were undertaken without congressional approval.
“Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency, not the president and certainly not DOGE,” the lawsuit said.
The agency’s interim director, Keith E. Sonderling, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Last week, the attorneys general of 21 states filed a similar lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, arguing that the funding cuts violated the Constitution and federal law by usurping Congress’s power to determine how federal funds are spent.