(The Center Square) – North Carolina is a participant in litigation seeking relief from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security as the federal departments withhold money states use to fund counterterrorism and disaster response efforts.

North Carolina in 2025 received $17 million through the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Emergency Management Performance Grant. The federal taxpayer money is used for purchases such as equipment for bomb squads, active shooter exercises, cyberattacks, natural disaster response, assessment of flood risks, management of wildfires, and search and rescue.

There is no indication federal money for Hurricane Helene relief has been impacted.

Filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, first-term Democratic state Attorney General Jeff Jackson affixed North Carolina to the list of plaintiffs led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha. Defendants are FEMA, Robert Fenton as senior official and administrator with FEMA, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

The states are asking the court to rule that imposing election conditions, immigration conditions and termination conditions are contrary to the Constitution and federal law and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Jackson says FEMA and Homeland Security have attached conditions to the financial resource, including the ability to “terminate any federal grant at any time, for any reason” and to “withhold the money unless states change how they administer elections.”

“FEMA is threatening our counterterrorism funding again,” said Jackson. “The last time they tried this, we took them to court and won. Now they’re trying again, and I expect we’ll beat them – again. Hopefully they get the message: Don’t threaten our first responders unless you’re ready for a fight.”

Twenty-four other states and the District of Columbia are plaintiffs. Twenty-two have Democratic attorneys general, and two states use the name of their Democratic governor rather than their Republican attorney general, respectively. Hawaii is part of the lawsuit; its attorney general's office is nonpartisan.