Earlier this week, more than 500 federal taxpayers across 10 Northern California counties filed a class-action lawsuit against Congressional Representatives Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson over a congressional vote for military aid to Israel in April.

According to a press release sent out Thursday, the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, argues Huffman and Thompson illegally abused their Tax and Spend authority when they voted to allocate $26.38 billion in military aid to Israel on April 20.

By doing so, they violated the U.S. Constitution, the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, and U.S. federal laws.

“This class action is only the beginning of the people’s exercise of power against the violence of the American government and our refusal to be complicit,” Maria Barakat, a Palestinian-Lebanese American and class member from Sonoma County, stated.

According to the release, Thompson and Huffman “did this in the face of massive opposition by their own constituents and overwhelming evidence that the Israeli military was carrying out genocide in Gaza with U.S.-provided weapons and munitions.”

On Jan. 26, the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled the charge of genocide against the Israeli government should not be dismissed and the case should proceed to ongoing litigation. On Feb. 26, Amnesty International, the largest human rights organization in the world, issued a finding that the Israeli government was defying provisions in this ICJ ruling.

On March 24, Francesca Albanese — the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories —issued a comprehensive report stating the Israeli government had crossed the “threshold” and was actively committing genocide in Gaza.

“I trusted Congressman Huffman to call for a ceasefire and to demand that the U.S. follow our own laws in addition to International Law,” Humboldt County resident Robie Tenorio stated in the release. “But despite overwhelming documented and corroborated evidence, Congressman Huffman voted in April 2024 to send Israel more offensive weapons, all paid for by U.S. taxpayers.”

“Over the last 14 months, I have watched elected officials remain completely unresponsive despite the public’s demands to end the genocide,” Mendocino County resident Laurel Krause stated.

The plaintiffs contend that by abusing their Tax and Spending authority, Huffman and Thompson have illegally forced their constituents into being complicit in genocide.

According to the release, this has caused extensive “moral injury” and other forms of harm to members of the class.