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By Andrew Stanton
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A federal judge allowed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Justice’s “anti-weaponization fund” to proceed on Thursday as Trump administration officials have not providing an in-writing guarantee that the fund was not moving forward.
The fund has drawn bipartisan backlash, with critics raising concerns that it could allow compensation for those convicted of crimes connected to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol waged by Trump supporters, including those found guilty of assaulting police officers. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to publicly rule out such eligibility. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said the fund was designed to compensate people who claimed they were unfairly targeted by government investigations.
Why Judge Let Lawsuit Proceed
Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a ruling on Thursday stating that a scheduling order starting the standard discovery process was issued on June 22, 2026, and ordering officials to provide an answer by July 17.
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The DOJ lawyers have pointed to Blanche’s previous testimony about the fund “not going forward,” arguing that those statements were “made against the backdrop of serious penalties of falsity” under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 l(b)-(c).
However, the judge disagreed that those statutes provided the “serious penalties of falsity” described by the DOJ.
A civil suit does not “become moot when the defendants agree to stop the conduct at issue in the litigation,” she wrote.
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“On the record before this Court, the President and Acting Attorney General Blanche’s continued interest in compensating alleged victims of alleged government weaponization, the defendants’ unwillingness to provide declarations under the penalty of perjury, and Acting Attorney General Blanche’s refusal to rescind the May 18, 2026 memo, which set up the structure of the Fund, all support the conclusion that this civil action is not moot,” she wrote.
She said Blanche’s testimony before Congress that the fund is dead is not strong enough to justify an end to the lawsuit.
“That the defendants have refused to accord a genuine degree of trustworthiness to their representations about the Fund not going forward is particularly concerning because of the President’s consistent support for the Fund and Acting Attorney General Blanche’s acknowledgement that the Fund remains ‘important,’” the judge wrote.
When reached by Newsweek, a DOJ spokesperson pointed to Blanche’s “congressional testimony, comments in media interviews, and court filings that reiterate the fund is dead.” The spokesperson did not say why the DOJ has declined to confirm the fund is dead in writing to the judge.
What to Know About Anti-Weaponization Fund
The DOJ in May announced an anti-weaponization fund designed to compensate people who claimed they were unfairly targeted by government investigations. Blanche framed it as a response to what President Donald Trump and his allies have described as “lawfare,” but it drew swift bipartisan backlash.
Critics raised concerns that it could allow compensation for those convicted of crimes connected to the Capitol riot, including those found guilty of assaulting police officers. Blanche declined to publicly rule out such eligibility.
The fund has threatened to complicate Blanche’s confirmation by the Senate, as several Republicans have been noncommittal amid their concerns.
Is Anti-Weaponization Fund Dead?
Blanche testified this month before Congress that the DOJ is “not moving forward with the fund.”
“The reasons for the fund, I think, remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund,” he said on June 2.
One day later, however, Trump told reports he would “have to ask the lawyers” if the fund was dead but that it was a “beautiful thing.”
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