(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Thursday issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Trump administration from freezing federal funding without going through Congress — offering a scathing critique of what he said was the White House’s attempt to disrupt the separation of powers.
The judge, U.S. District Judge John McConnell, had already issued a temporary order in January blocking the freeze. Thursday’s injunction effectively finalized that order and will allow the Trump administration to appeal the ruling — though they had already tried to do so and were denied.
The injunction prohibits the Trump administration from “reissuing, adopting, implementing, giving effect to, or reinstating under a different name” a short-lived directive issued by the Office of Management and Budget that froze billions in funds.
“The Executive’s categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,” McConnell wrote in Thursday’s ruling. “The interaction of the three co-equal branches of government is an intricate, delicate, and sophisticated balance — but it is crucial to our form of constitutional governance. Here, the Executive put itself above Congress.”
Judge McConnell noted that his order is “not limiting the Executive’s discretion or micromanaging the administration of federal funds,” but rather it reiterates the limit of the president’s power.
“Rather, consistent with the Constitution, statutes, and caselaw, the Court is simply holding that the Executive’s discretion to impose its own policy preferences on appropriated funds can be exercised only if it is authorized by the congressionally approved appropriations statutes,” he wrote.
In his ruling, the judge offered a history lesson to explain why the funding freeze was unlawful.
“We begin by restating the American government principles learned during critical civics education lessons in our youth. Our founders, after enduring an eight-year war against a monarch’s cruel reign from an ocean away, understood too well the importance of a more balanced approach to governance, ” Judge McConnell wrote. “These concepts of ‘checks and balances’ and ‘separation of powers’ have been the lifeblood of our government, hallmarks of fairness, cooperation, and representation that made the orderly operation of a society made up of a culturally, racially, and socioeconomically diverse people possible.”
Regarding a claim made by a group of 22 state attorneys general about unlawfully freezing millions in FEMA funding, Judge McConnell ordered the Trump administration to issue a report to the court detailing their compliance — or lack thereof — with the court’s preliminary injunction.
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