NBC News - Judge finds Trump administration violated court order halting funding freeze
U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell said the government has not restored funding in several programs despite his Jan. 31 order temporarily halting the freeze.
Feb. 10, 2025, 2:05 PM EST
By Chloe Atkins, Fallon Gallagher and Dareh Gregorian
A federal judge in Rhode Island Monday said that the Trump administration violated his order halting a sweeping federal funding freeze and ordered the government to “immediately restore frozen funding.”
U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell handed down the order after the plaintiffs in the case, a coalition of 22 states, said the government had not restored funding in several programs despite his Jan. 31 order temporarily halting the wide-ranging Office of Management and Budget directive that had caused chaos and confusion across the country.
“The States have presented evidence in this motion that the Defendants in some cases have continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds,” McConnell wrote, even though his order lifting the freeze had been "clear and unambiguous."
Justice Department lawyers argued in a court filing that they didn't believe the order covered some of the frozen funding, and that some of the funding at issue is under review to make sure it's "appropriate.
"The Defendants now plea that they are just trying to root out fraud. But the freezes in effect now were a result of the broad categorical order, not a specific finding of possible fraud," McConnell wrote. "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."
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