Federal Judge Extends Halt to Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze
A federal judge in D.C. Tuesday extended a block on President Donald Trump’s blanket freeze on all governmental grants and loans.
The freeze on an enormous swath of federal spending set off mass confusion, frustration and uncertainty amongst millions of Americans that rely on federally funded child care, food assistance and housing programs and hundreds of nonprofits that depend on governmental grants.
In issuing a preliminary injunction, District Judge Loren AliKhan heavily criticized the Trump administration’s implementation of the freeze and its handling of the fallout from the funding interruption.
“In the simplest terms, the freeze was ill-conceived from the beginning,” AliKhan wrote, adding that the administration’s actions were “irrational, imprudent, and precipitated a nationwide crisis.”
In particular, the judge chastised White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who had posted a contradictory statement on social media explaining that the funding freeze was still on even after the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had revoked the memo that initiated the pause.
“By any reading of the Press Secretary’s remarks, the memorandum’s retraction was an empty gesture,” the judge wrote.
Courts hearing similar lawsuits against governmental actions typically presume that the government will voluntarily cease the challenged conduct. However, in this case, AliKhan said the court “will not confer that presumption when the government says one thing while expressly doing another.”
“It will not reward parties who change appearances without changing conduct,” she added.
AliKhan said plaintiffs in the case — a coalition of nonprofits, public health organizations and small businesses led by Democracy Forward — successfully argued that a preliminary injunction granting similar relief as the temporary restraining order she previously issued was needed.
“While funds have resumed flowing to some recipients, that does not erase the imminence or irreparability of what another pause would entail,” the judge said.
Like the temporary restraining order, the injunction prevents the Trump administration from again carrying out the funding freeze using the same memo or a different directive.