The Daily Fuckup

This is not a new April 24 filing blitz. The legal fights were launched earlier this spring, then kept moving: California and Maryland sued on February 18, 2026, over the administration’s move to terminate energy-related funding, and Massachusetts filed a separate case on March 11, 2026, over a federal demand for college and university data. California later said on April 2 that the administration had backed away from the disputed energy-funding cuts. citeturn0search0turn0search1turn0search2

In California, state officials said the federal government had tried to cancel about $1.2 billion in energy and infrastructure programs. The complaint argued that the money had already been promised and that the termination was unlawful. Maryland filed its own suit the same day over the same broad effort to unwind energy funding. The cases are separate, but they share a common target: federal attempts to pull back money that states say had already been committed. citeturn0search0turn0search3

Massachusetts took a different tack, challenging a federal demand for information from colleges and universities that the state said was unlawful. The suit asked a court to stop the data request, and a federal judge blocked the demand on April 3-4, 2026. That gave the state an early procedural win while the broader dispute over federal authority over higher-education records continued. citeturn0search1

Taken together, the cases show a pattern that has been building since mid-February: states are moving quickly to challenge federal actions before they take hold, and in at least one case California says the pressure already forced a retreat. The disputes are not one coordinated event on April 24. They are overlapping legal fights over how far the administration can go when it tries to cut off funding or demand information from institutions in Democratic-led states. citeturn0search0turn0search1turn0search3