“The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” U.S. District Judge John McConnell said on Monday.
Democratic attorneys general in 22 states and Washington, D.C., who challenged the freeze said the Trump administration was not complying with the judge’s initial command.
The judge said withheld funds that must be restored include those appropriated under two laws championed by former President Biden — the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — and those intended for institutes and other agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In a memo last month, the Office of Management and Budget directed federal agencies to pause the disbursement of grants while the administration assessed its spending to assure it aligned with Trump’s agenda, sparking legal challenges and widespread confusion.
Though the memo was later withdrawn, McConnell said the reversal was “in name only” after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt specified on social media that the administration’s rescission only referred to the memo itself, not the entire freeze.
The rescission “may have been issued simply to defeat the jurisdiction of the courts. The substantive effect of the directive carries on,” McConnell, an appointee of former President Obama, wrote in his previous order.
The Justice Department has appealed the judge’s order.
The Hill’s Ella Lee has more here.
