A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's directive to freeze federal assistance, ruling that the action violated the Constitution and risked depriving millions of Americans of vital resources.
A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, halting its freeze on federal assistance . U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., sided with a coalition of nonprofits who challenged the directive from the Office of Management and Budget ( OMB ) last week.
The judge stated that the administration's actions 'run roughshod over a 'bulwark of the Constitution'' by interfering with Congress's power to allocate funds. The OMB memo, rescinded by acting Director Matthew Vaeth due to widespread confusion, initially directed all agencies to temporarily pause all federal assistance potentially implicated by executive orders issued by President Trump during his first days in office. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that the pause on federal assistance would remain in effect, despite the revoked memo. In her 30-page opinion, AliKhan argued that a review of eligible programs for federal funding could be conducted without depriving millions of Americans access to vital resources. She highlighted that the administration's memo potentially encompassed up to $3 trillion in financial aid, a 'breathtakingly large sum of money to suspend practically overnight.'AliKhan criticized the administration for its 'lack of consideration for the consequences' of its decision, comparing it to 'cutting the fuel supply to a vast, complicated, nationwide machine.' She also pointed to Leavitt's statements, suggesting that the OMB and collaborating agencies were determined to restrict federal funding. The judge further stated that the rescission of the memo, while 'NOT . . . the federal funding freeze; itself,' seemed intended to circumvent legal challenges without genuinely halting the contested action. This initial memo led to legal challenges from nonprofit groups in Washington and 22 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia. AliKhan's decision came just before an earlier order temporarily halting the freeze was set to expire, preventing potential catastrophic harm to organizations reliant on federal assistance
Trump Administration Federal Assistance Funding Freeze OMB Constitution Nonprofit Organizations
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