The Trump administration has notched a win in its effort to lock up funding for environmental initiatives appropriated under former President Joe Biden’s climate bill.
A federal appeals court Wednesday rebuked a lower court judge for overstepping his authority last year when he ordered EPA and the departments of Energy, Agriculture and Transportation to immediately reinstate nearly three dozen grants.
The Trump administration last spring appealed the orders from Judge Richard Gergel, an Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the injunction pending the outcome of the litigation.
“Now, after briefing and oral argument, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in issuing both injunctions,” wrote 4th Circuit Judge Allison Rushing in the opinion issued Wednesday.
