Anti-Israel activists failed in their long-shot effort to stop aid to Israel via a lawsuit.
The plaintiffs alleged in the federal District Court of Minnesota that they suffered “bouts of uncontrollable weeping, inability to sleep, distractions from work, despair for the future of their children and humanity, inability to experience joy, feelings of guilt, social isolation, and anxiety,” as a result of a 2024 defense spending bill.
They sued elected federal officials along with then-Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for funding the aid to Israel, which they say is complicit in “genocide in Gaza.” Defendants included Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, along with current Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth. The activists wanted “a declaration that the challenged law violates the Constitution, international treaties, and other federal law” and an injunction.
The lawsuit threw a grab bag of allegations out there, hoping at least one might stick.
According to Judge Eric Tostrud’s opinion:
Plaintiffs believe the Act violates a host of national and international laws: the Genocide Convention Implementation Act, the Leahy Law, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Conventional Arms Transfer policy, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, customary international law, and the Taxing and Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
They lacked any real injury and standing, Judge Tostrud concluded. The activists tried to argue that as taxpayers, they had standing, an argument Tostrud dismissed.
“The Supreme Court has long held that, in general, mere federal taxpayer status is insufficient to confer standing,” he wrote.
He also dismissed the argument that they suffer a “moral injury” due to supposedly being “complicit in an ongoing genocide.”
Legal commentator Eugene Volokh said the judge ruled correctly.
“I think this is correct—if people disapprove of such military aid, or what Israel is doing with it, their remedy is through the political process, not by trying to get a federal court to stop such aid,” he wrote at Reason.
Plaintiffs included activists affiliated with anti-Israel groups, including “Women Against Military Madness.”
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Matt Lamb currently works as an associate editor for The College Fix. He also contributes to a variety of websites, including Legal Insurrection, Human Life Review, and AMAC Newsline. His work has been published by The Federalist, Townhall, and The Daily Caller. He has worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
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