1.1 C
Washington
Sunday, February 23, 2025

DOJ Appeals Judge’s Order to Unfreeze Federal Funding

Must read

Division of Justice legal professionals filed an attraction hours after a decide ordered funds for federal packages to renew.

The Division of Justice (DOJ) on Feb. 10 appealed a federal decide’s order to instantly restore and resume funds for federal packages, simply hours after the ruling was issued.

The discover, filed in a Rhode Island courtroom by DOJ lawyer Daniel Schwei, got here after U.S. District Decide John McConnell dominated on Monday that President Donald Trump’s administration had failed to completely abide by an earlier order directing the federal government to unfreeze all federal funding for packages licensed by Congress.
That earlier order was handed down by McConnell in January in response to a directive issued that very same month by the Workplace of Administration and Finances (OMB) calling for a freeze of grants, loans, and different monetary help for hundreds of federal packages, pending evaluate by the administration.

A memo, authored by OMB Performing Director Matthew Vaeth, directed federal businesses to conduct a complete analysis of all monetary help packages to find out whether or not spending on the packages was aligned with Trump’s agenda and priorities.

“Within the interim, to the extent permissible below relevant regulation, Federal businesses should briefly pause all actions associated to obligation or disbursement of all Federal monetary help, and different related company actions that could be implicated by the chief orders, together with, however not restricted to, monetary help for overseas support, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the inexperienced new deal,” the Jan. 27 memo acknowledged.

Vaeth didn’t specify when the pause on funding for the packages can be lifted.

See also  DOJ Withheld Critical Intel on Trump Assassination Attempts, Lawmakers Say

The Trump administration was challenged in courtroom by advocacy teams in addition to a coalition of state attorneys basic, led by New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James.

They mentioned of their lawsuit that “the Government’s actions by the Workplace of Administration and Finances … violate the Administrative Process Act as a result of Congress has not delegated any unilateral authority to the Government to indefinitely pause all federal monetary help with out contemplating the statutory and contractual phrases governing these billions of {dollars} of grants.”

Additionally they mentioned the freeze violated the Spending Clause of the U.S. Structure.

The White Home later rescinded the memo after McConnell blocked the plan in response to the lawsuit.

White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in a Jan. 29 assertion on social media platform X that the memo had been withdrawn “to finish any confusion created by the courtroom’s injunction.”

Nevertheless, Leavitt mentioned, “The President’s EO’s on federal funding stay in full power and impact, and might be rigorously carried out.”

The attorneys basic later argued that the Trump administration was not complying with the decide’s preliminary order to unfreeze the funding, citing alleged “proof of ongoing disruptions impacting disbursements to states.”

In his new order on Monday, McConnell advised the Trump administration to instantly restore the frozen federal funding till he decides on the preliminary injunction request.

“The States have offered proof on this movement that the Defendants in some circumstances have continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to renew disbursement of appropriated federal funds,” the decide wrote.

See also  Trump’s Lawyers Ask New York Court to Overturn Business Records Conviction

McConnell added that administration officers mentioned “that they’re simply attempting to root out fraud” however that the freezes in impact now “had been a results of the broad categorical order, not a particular discovering of doable fraud.”

The broad freeze, the decide mentioned, was “seemingly unconstitutional and has brought on and continues to trigger irreparable hurt to an enormous portion of this nation.”

The Epoch Occasions has contacted the Division of Justice for additional remark.

Aldgra Fredly and Jacob Burg contributed to this report.

Related News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest News