(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Another judge puts Trump's disastrous funding freeze on ice [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-02-25
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday on Donald Trump’s push for a federal funding freeze, calling it “arbitrary and capricious” as well as likely in violation of the First Amendment.
U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan issued her ruling barring the White House Office of Management and Budget’s rescission of congressionally appropriated funds. The injunction continues to block the OMB directive that threatened essential social safety net programs that benefit millions of Americans when it was issued in late January.
“In the simplest terms, the freeze was ill-conceived from the beginning,” AliKhan wrote in her ruling on Tuesday. “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 twenty-four hours. The breadth of that command is almost unfathomable.”
This is the second time AliKhan has blocked the Trump administration from pausing federal disbursements to states.
The legal challenges to the chaotic funding freeze came pouring in swiftly and from all directions after it was announced via memo on Jan. 27. The pushback ranged from 22 Democratic attorneys general to national nonprofit groups who filed suit. The attorneys general won their case in court on Jan. 31 when District Judge John J. McConnell of Rhode Island granted a temporary restraining order against the freeze.
Democracy Forward, a progressive legal organization that started in 2016 after Trump was elected to his first term, represents the nonprofit groups who filed suit against the administration in Washington, D.C. According to their website, Democracy Forward has challenged Trump in court over 100 times. The National Council of Nonprofits filed the lawsuit along with SAGE, a pro-LGBTQ+ advocacy organization for elderly adults; the American Public Health Association; and the small business organization Main Street Alliance.
“It’s an administrative priority to end wokeness, and they’re backing that with this cudgel of withholding billions—perhaps trillions—in funding,” Kevin Friedl, a lawyer representing the nonprofit groups, said during a hearing last week.
Even though multiple courts have issued initial rulings against Trump’s directive to freeze all federal funds, chaos remained in its wake. Head Start preschool programs were facing imminent closure, and Medicaid recipients reported being locked out of their health care portals.
"The scope of power OMB seeks to claim is 'breathtaking,' and its ramifications are massive," wrote AliKhan in her ruling. "Because there is no clear statutory hook for this broad assertion of power, plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of this claim."
This is yet another blow to the inept Trump administration, which has been dealing with a litany of court rulings that have stymied his unconstitutional policies.
Click here for Daily Kos’ Bluesky Starter Pack. We’ve made it easy for you to follow our team as we stand up for Democracy and the rule of law.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/25/2306230/-Another-judge-puts-Trump-s-disastrous-funding-freeze-on-ice?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
