The Trump administration has told a court that it selected certain clean-energy grant cancellations solely according to whether the recipient state was politically aligned with Democrats. The admission matters because it conflicts with earlier public explanations that the cuts were based on the projects’ value or national energy needs, and it could affect ongoing legal challenges over the government’s use of federal funding.

The cancelled funding totalled about $7.6 billion and covered hundreds of projects in 16 states that supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. The grants supported battery manufacturing, hydrogen technology, electricity-grid upgrades and carbon-capture projects; critics said the approach punished states for their voting patterns, while the Energy Department had previously characterised the decisions as business-based.