A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Tuesday from permanently steering $233 million in FEMA disaster relief funds away from 12 blue states, issuing a restraining order just hours before a deadline that would have seen the funds lost for good.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, a Trump appointee to a Rhode Island-based court, said the administration’s abrupt decision to repurpose the funds from those states — just days before the Sept. 30 end of the current fiscal year — seemed to be plainly illegal. Her ruling ensures that the funds remain available while the states continue to litigate to reclaim them.
It’s “yet another case where the administration is saying … I’m going to do what I want to do and not what the law says and make the court make me,” McElroy said at a hastily convened court hearing Tuesday.
Earlier this month, McElroy similarly barred the Trump administration from attempting to coerce homelessness organizations to adopt gender-related policies.
