The federal judge who halted President Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze on government spending is doubling down on her initial ruling.
Judge Loren AliKhan of Washington D.C. issued a temporary restraining order after non-profit groups complained that they still can’t access funding.
The complaints emerged even after the Trump administration had lifted the spending freeze.
Judge AliKhan, a Biden appointee, wrote:
“For many, the harms caused by the freeze are non-speculative, impending, and potentially catastrophic.”
At a Monday hearing, AliKhan heard from the Justice Department and lawyers representing a group of non-profit organizations that depend on federal funding.
Those groups say they are still having trouble accessing federal money.
However, the White House reversed the freeze last week.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Rhode Island has separately blocked the freeze.
The freeze is also being challenged by over 20 Democrat-led states.
Lawyers for Trump’s Justice Department said:
“The fundamental question in this case is whether the president and his advisors can tell agencies that, consistent with their own statutory authorities, they should pause funding to ensure that the funding is executed consistent with the president’s priorities.
“The answer to that question has to be ‘yes.'”
As part of Trump’s sweeping overhaul of the federal government, the White House paused $3 trillion in grants and loans to ensure that spending is aligned with the president’s priorities.
Democrats, disoriented by Trump’s blitz of executive orders, have rallied against the freeze.
They accused Trump of stepping on Congress’s power of the purse to pinch programs supposedly for the poor and vulnerable.
A day after the judge initially blocked the White House’s memo, it was rescinded by the Trump administration.
The White House said the reversal was meant to end “confusion” surrounding the president’s actions and that the recission should “effectively end” the court case.
In her Monday ruling, Judge AliKhan fired back.
The judge called the memo’s recission merely superficial and an attempt to block a court battle on a live issue.
She pointed to claims from non-profit groups that the funding freeze is still active, as well as comments from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to that effect.
In her order, the judge wrote:
“The rescission, if it can be called that, appears to be nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to prevent this court from granting relief.”
While the administration argues that a brief pause on spending is within Trump’s authority, the judge disagreed.
AliKhan argues that the Office of Management and Budget does not have a “blank check” to further Trump’s agenda.