Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Freeze On Billions In Congressional Funds: 'Executive Put Itself Above Congress'

A federal judge extended an order on Thursday that prevents the Trump administration from freezing billions in congressionally approved funds to 22 states and the District of Columbia.

The New York Times reported that the judge found the administration had overstepped in trying to stop the agencies from using money appropriated by Congress.

Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island, said in the opinion that the case amounted to executive overreach.

"Here, the executive put itself above Congress," McConnell wrote. "It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress's authority to control spending."

What Happened: Thursday’s injunction, the second ordered by a federal court blocking the spending freeze, marks a victory for Democratic attorneys general who filed suit against the Trump administration over its efforts to slash trillions of dollars in order to evaluate whether the programs in question aligned with the president’s policy goals.

The White House budget office memo that got the ball rolling last month sent millions of workers across the country into a collective state of confusion and insecurity, after which a coalition of state attorneys general launched lawsuits.

The Judge McConnell’s order, aimed at all the federal agencies cited in the White House memo, directs them to refrain from "pausing, freezing, blocking, canceling, suspending, terminating or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to the States under awarded grants, executed contracts or other executed financial obligations."

While the decision represents a rebuke of the spending freeze, noted NPR, the preliminary injunction only applies in the states that brought the challenge.

Nevertheless, the ruling was praised by the attorneys general who filed the lawsuit.

“Americans should feel encouraged that the President cannot impose his will where he does not have the constitutional power to do so. And while he may continue to try, we will continue to fight,” Rhode Island’s Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement.

"We don't have kings in this country, and today's preliminary injunction reaffirms that” he continued. "The President's federal funding freeze would be laughable if it wasn't so utterly destructive. It flies in the face of everything we know to be true about our government, namely our separation of powers, by attempting to render the Congress as irrelevant."

Trump-Musk Response?

​As of now, neither President Donald Trump nor Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has issued an official response to the recent decision. However, Musk commented on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “The Democratic government-funded NGO scam might be the biggest theft of taxpayer money ever.” ​

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