Yet another judge blocks Trump’s ‘utterly destructive’ funding freeze

President Donald Trump is having another terrible week in court. Federal judge John McConnell of Rhode Island issued a ruling on Thursday extending a block of Trump’s federal funding freeze from his first days in office.McConnell issued a preliminary injunction after he granted a temporary restraining order in January against the Office of Management and Budget, which sent a memo directing federal agencies to withhold congressionally appointed grants, loans, and financial assistance to states. The preliminary injunction, which maintains the status quo until the court makes a final decision, is supposed to protect states from the immediate hardship of losing federal funding.McConnell’s ruling blocks Trump's federal funding freeze for now and declares that the states—which claimed to still be waiting for some funding—have proven that “concrete and imminent harm” was done by the short-lived memo.“The States have introduced dozens of uncontested declarations illustrating the effects of the indiscriminate and unpredictable freezing of federal funds, which implicate nearly all aspects of the States’ governmental operations and inhibit their ability to administer vital services to their residents.These declarations reflect at least one particularized, concrete, and imminent harm that flows from the federal funding pause—a significant, indefinite loss of obligated federal funding,” McConnell wrote in the ruling. This follows U.S. District Court Judge Loren L. AliKhan’s barring of Trump’s pause on federal aid, granting a win to nonprofits and small businesses. New York Attorney General Letitia JamesIn January, a group of 23 Democratic attorneys general challenged Trump’s actions stating that they impacted Americans' essential programs, hindered accessibility to health care portals, and wreaked havoc on the government. The lawsuit was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is now praising McConnell for ruling against Trump’s executive overreach. “The Trump administration’s illegal funding freeze jeopardized law enforcement funding, essential health care and childcare services, and other critical programs that millions of Americans rely on. Today we secured another court order to block the administration’s funding freeze while our lawsuit progresses. The power of the purse belongs to Congress – not the President,” James said in a statement on Thursday.Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha also praised McConnell's decision. “Americans pay taxes to the federal government knowing that the Congress will allocate their dollars towards agencies and programs that will support them in their daily lives. The President’s federal funding freeze would be laughable if it wasn’t so utterly destructive. It flies in the face of everything we know to be true about our government, namely our separation of powers, by attempting to render the Congress as irrelevant,” he said in a press release on Thursday.Trump faced another loss on Wednesday, when the Supreme Court shut down his request to withhold $2 billion in foreign aid in an attempt to shirk USAID payments to federal contractors. With two federal judges now extending the block on his funding freeze and the Supreme Court rejecting his bid to withhold foreign aid, Trump’s mounting legal obstacles are just beginning. And Democratic pushback is finally seeing some wins. Campaign Action

President Donald Trump is having another terrible week in court. Federal judge John McConnell of Rhode Island issued a ruling on Thursday extending a block of Trump’s federal funding freeze from his first days in office. McConnell issued a preliminary injunction after he granted a temporary restraining order in January against the Office of Management and Budget, which sent a memo directing federal agencies to withhold congressionally appointed grants, loans, and financial assistance to states.

The preliminary injunction , which maintains the status quo until the court makes a final decision, is supposed to protect states from the immediate hardship of losing federal funding. McConnell’s ruling blocks Trump's federal funding freeze for now and declares that the states—which claimed to still be waiting for some funding—have proven that “concrete and imminent harm” was done by the short-lived memo. “The States have introduced dozens of uncontested declarations illustrating the effects of the indiscriminate and unpredictable freezing of federal funds, which implicate nearly all aspects of the States’ governmental operations and inhibit their ability to administer vital services to their residents.

These declarations reflect at least one particularized, concrete, and imminent harm that flows from the federal funding pause—a significant, indefinite loss of obligated federal funding,” McConnell wrote in the ruling. This follows U.S.

District Court Judge Loren L. AliKhan’s barring of Trump’s pause on federal aid, granting a win to nonprofits and small businesses. In January, a group of 23 Democratic attorneys general challenged Trump’s actions stating that they impacted Americans' essential programs , hindered accessibility to health care portals , and wreaked havoc on the government.

The lawsuit was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is now praising McConnell for ruling against Trump’s executive overreach. “The Trump administration’s illegal funding freeze jeopardized law enforcement funding, essential health care and childcare services, and other critical programs that millions of Americans rely on. Today we secured another court order to block the administration’s funding freeze while our lawsuit progresses.

The power of the purse belongs to Congress – not the President,” James said in a statement on Thursday. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha also praised McConnell's decision. “Americans pay taxes to the federal government knowing that the Congress will allocate their dollars towards agencies and programs that will support them in their daily lives.

The President’s federal funding freeze would be laughable if it wasn’t so utterly destructive. It flies in the face of everything we know to be true about our government, namely our separation of powers, by attempting to render the Congress as irrelevant,” he said in a press release on Thursday. Trump faced another loss on Wednesday, when the Supreme Court shut down his request to withhold $2 billion in foreign aid in an attempt to shirk USAID payments to federal contractors.

With two federal judges now extending the block on his funding freeze and the Supreme Court rejecting his bid to withhold foreign aid, Trump’s mounting legal obstacles are just beginning. And Democratic pushback is finally seeing some wins..