A federal judge says the Trump administration has been violating his order to resume funding federal grants that the White House attempted to block with a blanket spending freeze last month.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell ordered the administration to “immediately restore frozen funding” while his order remains in effect, including to the National Institutes of Health and to fulfill the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act.
“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,” McConnell ruled. “These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the [order].”
The order follows a claim by a group of Democratic state attorneys general that the Trump administration had continued to block spending that McConnell’s order was intended to release. The Trump administration responded that it is attempting to root out fraud in the programs, but the judge said that reasoning is not sufficient to justify defying the order.
“The freezes in effect now were a result of the broad categorical order, not a specific finding of possible fraud,” he said.
McConnell hinted at the possibility of contempt for officials who he deems as continuing to defy his order, citing a 1975 court ruling that noted “Persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect.”
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