A federal judge in Rhode Island clarified on Wednesday that the executive branch has some authority to pause or limit federal spending as long as it complies with existing statutes and regulations, marking a major win for the Trump administration in its ongoing battle with the judicial branch.
While reaffirming his previous temporary restraining order placed on the White House’s funding freeze, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. further clarified that the federal government can limit access to federal funding if the decision aligns with applicable laws.
The judge’s previous order does not “bar[] both the President and much of the Federal Government from exercising their own lawful authorities to withhold funding without the prior approval of the district court,” McConnell wrote in a new four-page order.
Neither the restraining order nor the judge’s subsequent order affirming his initial decision “require the Defendants to seek ‘preclearance’ from the Court before acting to terminate funding when that decision is based on actual authority in the applicable statutory, regulatory, or grant terms,” he continued.
Conservatives swiftly praised the news on social media, although it remains to be seen what comes next in this legal saga.
The latest legal development comes one day after an appeals court declined to halt for now McConnell’s order that required agencies to unfreeze all federal funding. In Tuesday’s order, the appellate court denied the Trump administration’s emergency motion to block the federal judge’s order.
“The defendants do not cite any authority in support of their administrative stay request or identify any harm related to a specific funding action or actions that they will face without their requested administrative stay,” a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit wrote.
The First Circuit’s order prompted the Justice Department to seek further clarification, leading to McConnell’s follow-up order.
The Obama-appointed judge ordered the Trump administration on Monday to restore billions of dollars in frozen federal funds, accusing the White House of failing to comply with his original order regarding the matter. McConnell said the White House violated the “plain text” of his temporary restraining order by maintaining its funding pause.
The order came after Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” signaling a potential battle between the executive and judicial branches before this week’s court developments.
“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,” the judge wrote earlier this week.
The recent orders stem from legal challenges related to a memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget that directed federal agencies to freeze the disbursement of federal grants while the administration assessed the spending to ensure it aligns with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit on Friday, challenging the freeze while citing the judge’s initial January 29 order that the Trump administration allegedly violated.
“While it is imaginable that a certain amount of machinery would need to be re-tooled in order to undo the breadth of the Federal Funding Freeze, there is no world in which these scattershot outages, which as of this writing impact billions of dollars in federal funding across the Plaintiff States, can constitute compliance with this Court’s Order,” the attorneys general wrote.
The administration argued it had made “good-faith, diligent efforts” to comply with the judge’s temporary restraining order, per a court filing on Sunday.
The White House budget office’s memo drew widespread confusion late last month after the document was rescinded, suggesting that the executive order authorizing the freeze on federal grants was also rescinded. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the time the pause remained in effect.
The White House dismissed the judge’s Monday order, predicting an upcoming victory.
“Each executive order will hold up in court because every action of the Trump-Vance administration is completely lawful,” a White House spokesperson said. “Any legal challenge against it is nothing more than an attempt to undermine the will of the American people.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the latest court developments in the funding freeze battle.