The reorganization and downsizing of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is being challenged by 19  state and the DC attorneys general in a lawsuit filed on May 5 in a Rhode Island court.

The state attorneys general allege that the reductions in force (RIFs) are an unlawful dismantling of the agency that prevents remaining staff from carrying out the agency’s statutory functions, which is harming the states. They also claim the RIF actions violate Congressional mandates (including the establishment of the agency and its functions) and a history of Congressional investment in the agency.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the lawsuit claims, has admitted that he “knew that possibly twenty percent of the reductions in force (RIFs) were going to be ‘mistakes’ even before the RIFs were executed” and yet pursued them anyway. States expressed their concern that “the consequences are severe, complicated and potentially irreversible.”