Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a coalition of 22 other attorneys general today won a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration to block its illegal policy that would freeze funding for essential federal agency grants, loans, and other financial assistance programs. Judge John J. McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island today granted the preliminary injunction after the coalition sued the Trump administration to stop the funding freeze.
“The court’s ruling today amplifies what we have been saying: the president does not have unilateral power to simply disregard Congress’s decisions or dismantle essential parts of our government,” Rayfield said. “We have already seen the chaos these cuts have caused in Oregon. Our schools, medical institutions, public safety and infrastructure were all jeopardized under the president’s order to cut off this critical funding.”
The administration’s funding freeze policy illegally withheld trillions of dollars in federal funds for states and other entities like nonprofit organizations and community health centers. The policy caused immediate disruptions and uncertainty for millions of Americans.
Attorney General Rayfield and the coalition sued the administration over the freeze on January 28, and on January 31, the court granted the attorneys general’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO). On February 7, the coalition filed motions for enforcement after finding the Trump administration was not complying with the TRO. The court granted that motion, but the coalition had to file a second motion for enforcement on February 28th, to stop the administration from freezing hundreds of millions of dollars to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In today’s order, Judge McConnell wrote about the importance of balancing power in the three branches of government:
“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. They constructed three co-equal branches of government, each tasked with their own unique duties, but with responsibilities over the other branches as a check in order to ensure that no branch overstepped their powers, upsetting the balance of the fledgling constitutional republic.”
The Court also required the administration to provide evidence of their compliance regarding unfreezing FEMA funds by March 14 and to alert all agencies about the Court’s order.
Joining Attorney General Rayfield in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.