Another federal judge has imposed a preliminary injunction on President Donald Trump’s spending freeze on March 6, pausing it and requiring the administration to disburse federal financial assistance to various entities.
U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell of Rhode Island wrote in an opinion: “In light of the unrebutted evidence that the states and their citizens are currently facing—and will continue to face a significant disruption in health, education, and other public services that are integral to their daily lives due to this overly broad pause in federal funding—the court finds that the public interest lies in maintaining the status quo and enjoining any categorical funding freeze.”
McConnell’s order follows a series of blocks placed on the spending freeze, as well as on various policies targeted towards more specific funding streams.
One of those made it to the Supreme Court, which declined on March 5 an opportunity to halt a lower court order mandating the disbursement of foreign assistance funding.
McConnell’s preliminary injunction is the second targeting the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) directive to halt various categories of spending across the federal government on the basis of Trump’s executive orders.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan similarly targeted that directive and its effects with a preliminary injunction in Washington.
Both she and McConnell said the administration exceeded its statutory authority and acted arbitrarily and capriciously under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
“In the simplest terms, the freeze was ill-conceived from the beginning. Defendants either wanted to pause up to $3 trillion in federal spending practically overnight, or they expected each federal agency to review every single one of its grants, loans, and funds for compliance in less than 24 hours,” AliKhan wrote. “The breadth of that command is almost unfathomable.”
The administration attempted twice in February to halt a more temporary block that McConnell placed on the spending freeze. Still, both McConnell and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected the administration’s requests.
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